


Everything Ends

by emmadilla



Series: My Fallout 'Verse [1]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, Depression, Family, Gen, Loyalty, Post-Nuclear War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2018-12-17 14:34:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 50,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11853588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmadilla/pseuds/emmadilla
Summary: After her honourable discharge from the army, Riisa has carved out a nice life for herself and her family. But just when things seem like they're going perfectly, that's when everything goes wrong. The bombs start to drop and she seeks shelter in a Vault with her husband and son, but little does she know that that's only the beginning of the end ...





	1. The beginning of the end

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is, as promised on facebook, my first Fallout 4 fic, based on my very first character, Riisa! I included a shot of her below, just so you could see what she looks like. Even though I've actually played her story pretty far in game, I look forward to recounting her tale for you here.
> 
> As with most of my fics that get inspired by music, I've titled this after a song lyric, specifically the chorus of "Meet me on the equinox" by Death Cab for Cutie. It's a nice, melancholic song that meshes well with this story. Give it a listen if you haven't heard of it.

 

 

_War. War never changes._

 

_In the year 1945, my great great grandfather, serving in the army, wondered when he’d get to go home to his wife and the son he’d never seen. He got his wish when the US ended World War II by dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki._

 

_The World awaited Armageddon, but instead something miraculous happened. We began to use atomic energy not as a weapon, but as a nearly limitless source of power. People enjoyed luxuries once thought to be solely in the realm of science fiction. Domestic robots, fusion powered cars, portable computers. But then, in the 21st century, people awoke with a daze from the American Dream. Years of consumption lead to shortages of nearly every major resource. The entire world started to unravel. Peace became a distant memory._

 

_It is now the year 2077. We stand on the brink of total war, and I am afraid. Afraid for myself, for my husband, for my infant son._

 

_Because if my time in the army taught me one thing, it’s that war never changes._

 

———

 

The fog of steam that had gathered on the mirror during my shower slowly dissipated, enough at least so that I could go ahead and apply my makeup. I didn’t usually put much on, just some eyeliner and a natural coloured lipstick, but I liked the feeling of being put together. After spending so much time in the military, feeling like a ratty, sweaty soldier - because that’s exactly what I was - I preferred the polished look I’d cultivated. By the time I was done, my short hair had mostly dried, and I pulled the back part up into a ponytail, leaving the shaggy side hanging and exposed the side that was closely shaven. I had just trimmed it up earlier, carving a couple of horizontal lines into my scalp for a little bit of flair. I’d had to live with plain hair for so long, I’d started experimenting my ass off when I was discharged, dying and cutting like my life depended on it. It was currently a bright orange colour, and I hadn’t decided what colour to dye it next. I liked it the way it was, however, so I figured it would stay orange for a while.

 

“No new colour?” my husband asked, surprised, as he entered the bathroom behind me.

 

I chuckled. “Not yet.” Nate was so used to seeing me emerge with a new colour, he rarely even batted an eye at it anymore. I used to laugh at the way he’d roll his eyes and shake his head when I walked out of the shower with yet another vibrant hue on my head but he hadn’t done that for at least the last three dye jobs.

 

He wrapped his arms around my waist and nuzzled my neck. “You’re gonna knock ‘em dead at the Veteran’s Hall tonight.”

 

“Mmm, you think?” I asked teasingly, reaching back to ruffle his dark brown hair.

 

“Absolutely.” He slapped my ass before he added, “Now get ready and stop hogging the mirror.”

 

“I’m almost done!” I protested as I leaned forward, defining the curve on the line I was making on my lower lashline. It wasn’t traditional, but hey, I didn’t really conform to tradition anyway, as if the orange dye job didn’t give it away. I did things my own way, probably a bit strange for a soldier, but outside of the military I was a creature unto myself. A couple of coats of mascara and a sweep of matte nude lipstick later and I was done. I turned around to see Nate waiting, leaning against the doorway. “It’s all yours, tiger,” I said as I slide past him, making my way to the kitchen where our Mister Handy robotic butler from General Atomics that we’d dubbed Codsworth was waiting.

 

“Ah, good morning, mum!” he greeted cheerfully as I entered the room. “Your coffee, precisely 173.5 degrees Fahrenheit, brewed to perfection!”

 

I smiled as I grabbed the mug from the countertop. “Thanks, Codsworth.” I had been a bit apprehensive about getting the robot, back when I was still pregnant with Shaun, but Nate had insisted it would be helpful to have him around. When it was just the two of us, obviously we did well on our own, but with a baby to take care of, he reasoned that we would need a little help around the house. And I had ended up eating my words. Hey, a girl had to admit when she was wrong. Codsworth had been a godsend, from helping with changing and feeding Shaun to fixing simple meals to making sure the house was kept up. Whatever area we just couldn’t tackle at any given moment, he immediately stepped in to help. I kind of wished we’d gotten him sooner.

 

As I savoured the rich, dark coffee, I heard a soft cry start up from the other end of the house. I was about to set my cup down when Codsworth exclaimed, “Ah, sounds like someone made a stinky! I shall attend to young Shaun, you enjoy your coffee.”

 

“Alright then,” I replied as I took another sip, watching the hovering robot disappear down the hall. Nate soon stepped out of the bathroom, running his fingers through his damp hair, shooting me a smile before he grabbed the newspaper that was on the counter. After my honourable discharge, I didn’t care too much for politics or current events, but Nate kept up. I left him to it as I finished my cup of coffee, setting it in the sink when I was done.

 

As I did so, the doorbell rang, and Nate groaned. “It’s that salesman again, I bet. I don’t know why he keeps bothering you. He’s persistent, I’ll give him that.”

 

“Well, I guess I won’t keep him waiting,” I replied as I went to answer the door.

 

“Good morning! Vault-Tec calling!” the salesman greeted me cheerfully. I’d been putting him off for a little while now, but I couldn’t really find a reason to keep doing so. “I hate to call on you so early this morning, but I’m in a bit of a rush. It’s a matter of utmost urgency.”

 

“I’m here now,” I replied, leaning on the door.

 

“Good, good. I know you’re a busy woman, so I won’t take up much of your time. Time being a, um, precious commodity and all … anyway, I’m here today to tell you that because of your service to our country, you have been pre-selected for entrance into the local Vault! Vault 111.”

 

“That includes my family, right?” I asked, knowing that there was no way I would accept if Nate and Shaun wouldn’t be able to join me.

 

“Of course, of course!” he assured. “I just need your information so I can mark you down as confirmed. Your name?”

 

“Riisa Casacchia.”

 

“And your husband?”

 

“Nathan Casacchia.”

 

“Alright, alright. Is there anyone else in your family, excluding robots?”

 

“Yes, my son. Shaun Casacchia.”

 

He made a few notes on his clipboard and said, “Wonderful … that’s everything, then! I’m just gonna walk this over to the Vault so they have your information. Oh, and congratulations on being prepared for the future!”

 

I waved goodbye as I closed the door behind me. Nate had been listening to the whole conversation as he sat on the couch, and he turned his head to look at me. “Hey, it’s peace of mind. That’s worth a little paperwork, right?”

 

I leaned over to give him a kiss. “Of course. Anything for my boys.”

 

As I stroked his cheek, I heard Shaun start crying again, and I looked up as Codsworth appeared in the doorway. “Miss Riisa, Shaun has been changed, but he absolutely refuses to calm down. I think he needs some of that maternal affection you seem to be so good at.”

 

I smiled. “On my way,” I replied as I walked back down the hall to Shaun’s room. As soon as I appeared at his crib, he smiled and waved his arms up and down. I chuckled as I reached over to stroke his hair. Sometimes he just wanted to see that I was there. I was lucky that he was such a good baby.

 

“My boy isn’t giving his mother any trouble, is he?” I heard Nate ask as he entered the room.

 

“None at all,” I replied as I stood back up.

 

“Hey, I just fixed that mobile on his crib the other day. Why don’t you give it a spin? He loves that thing.” I reached up and gently spun the rocketship mobile, and it kept up the pace. Shaun giggled and cooed at it, waving his arms as his eyes tracked the ships. I grinned to see him enjoy it so much, glad that Nate had been able to fix it. For some reason it had just stopped working last week, but thankfully Nate was a tinkerer who just wouldn’t leave it alone. I had been tempted to just get another mobile for him, but Nate had insisted that I give him a chance to fix it. I was glad I had, even though mobiles weren’t expensive it was a little something we saved. I felt Nate step beside me and sling an arm around my shoulder as we watched him enjoy it. “That’s my boy. On his best behaviour, just like his dad.” When I shot him a look he amended, “Well, most of the time, anyway …”

 

I grinned and reached up for another kiss. His full lips fit mine just right, and each kiss felt just like the first, when we had snuck off during duty. We had met when I was still in the military and he was a contractor for us. I guarded him while he did his thing, and we started getting close. I wasn’t really one for the military, but I’d grown up an army brat, so it was pretty much expected of me. Nate encouraged me to think more for myself and he helped me grow into the individual I was today. That’s why I hadn’t stayed on with the military and accepted an honourable discharge so I could forge a civilian life. I didn’t want my children to grow up on military base after military base like I did, and so we’d bought a house here in Sanctuary Hills, I’d planted a garden, and we had settled down into a suburban life. It might seem a bit mediocre for some, but it was really everything I ever wanted. Shaun completed it. Nate and I still weren’t sure if we wanted more - I wanted to give Shaun some siblings, Nate was undecided - but no matter what we decided in the end, we were still a complete family in a quiet neighborhood. I couldn’t wait to watch my son grow up here, draw with chalk on the driveway, learn to ride a bike in the cul-de-sac, play catch with his father in the backyard. I could see it all, birthday parties, sleepovers, cookouts, helping with homework. And, someday, hosting a graduation party for Shaun. After that, maybe … possibly … a wedding shower. My thoughts raced ahead of me almost faster than I could follow. I was just excited to see what the future would hold for us and our son.

 

Smiling, Nate reached up and gently tugged on my ponytail. “Listen, after breakfast, I was thinking we could head to the park for a bit. Weather should hold up from what I saw.”

 

“Yeah, sounds like fun,” I replied with a grin, feeling like I was really settling into my life. It was simple, collecting a pension as a stay at home mother, tending to my garden and my son, but it was exactly what I wanted.

 

Codsworth’s voice interrupted our planning as I heard him call out from the living room, “Sir? Mum? You should come and see this!”

 

Curious at what the robot was trying to call attention to, I walked back down the hallway as I called back, “Codsworth? What’s wrong?”

 

The robot was hovering in front of the TV, which was tuned to a random news station, nothing in particular just something that Nate turned on in the morning. The news anchor looked like he was receiving something through his earpiece as he stammered, “Followed by … yes, followed by flashes. Blinding flashes. Sounds of explosions … we’re … we’re trying to get confirmation … but we seem to have lost contact with our affiliate stations.”

 

My heart dropped into my stomach, fearing the worst was finally happening. _No, not now! Not when everything is so perfect!_

 

The reporter went on. “We do have … coming in … confirmed reports, I repeat, confirmed reports of nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania. My God …” Suddenly, the TV signal went out, opting to a simple test screen that said _Please stand by_.

 

“Oh my god,” I heard Nate whisper behind me.

 

My heart felt like it had stopped, my beautiful little suburban civilian life suddenly shattered. Confirmed detonations in New York and Pennsylvania? That was so close to the Boston area, too close for my comfort. Even though I was still struggling to come to terms with what had just happened, my military training started kicking in, and I said in a firm voice. “We need to get to the Vault, now!” I spun around to see that Nate already had Shaun in his arms. “Let’s go, follow me!”

 

As we left our home, I heard neighbors exclaiming their disbelief, questioning if it really was happening, wondering how far they could get before … I blocked it all out, ignoring even the path of the helicarrier overheard as I focused only on the path to get to the Vault. I knew the general area that it was in, as I’d watched the Vault-Tec contractors work on it, and the path was also lined with Vault-Tec security, pointing people in the right direction. My feet pounded on the pavement and then the dirt path as I ran up to the Vault, Nate on my heels. A soldier near the apex of the hill shouted, “If you’re in the Vault program, head to the gate!”

 

The gate was a chain link fence that wasn’t very far now. Lots of people had started to gather, whether they were a part of the Vault program or were simply trying to buy their way in. Even the Vault-Tec salesman that I had just been talking to was there, arguing with the guard. “That’s absurd, I AM Vault-Tec! I’m going in, you can’t stop me.” At his insistence, a nearby soldier in power armor cocked back a mini-gun at him and he raised his hands, “Whoa, okay!” It seemed he was convinced that he wasn’t getting inside, despite his status with the company.

 

_Too bad for him_ , I thought as I stepped up to the gate. “We need to get in, we’re on the list,” I said, my voice somehow calm and collected even though my heart was beating out of my chest. I guess that was the good thing about my training, I did tend to remain calm in stressful situations, even if I wanted to freak out.

 

The guard checked our IDs against his list. “Infant, adult male, adult female … Okay, you’re good, go on ahead.”

 

I shrugged at the salesman as if to say, _Sorry_. I did feel rather bad about him being unable to get in, I felt it was unfair that Vault-Tec employees weren’t offered spots in Vaults, but there was nothing I could do. Every minute we remained outside was risky, as an attack could come at any moment. I wouldn’t risk mine or my family’s lives over arguing for entrance for a stranger. He would have to find his own way.

 

“What’s going to happen to all those people outside the gate?” Nate whispered to me as he clutched Shaun, sticking close to me as we hurried to the entrance.

 

“I don’t know,” I replied. I hoped they could find shelter somewhere, if I could I would have granted them all entrance. But my family was most important, and I had to make sure we got into the Vault first. If I could, afterward, I would ask if others could come in, too. I was more than willing to put in a good word for some of my neighbors. I really hoped I would get the chance. But until we were safely in the Vault, my only concern was my husband and son.

 

Vault-Tec guards directed us. “Over there! Step onto the platform, in the center!” There was a group of people already gathered, waiting to be sent down, and we joined them. My heart beat anxiously in my chest, feeling exposed and vulnerable on this hill. If I hadn’t answered the door this morning … I didn’t even want to think about it as we prepared to be lowered into the Vault. “Alright, that’s it! Send them down!”

 

I turned towards Nate, putting on a smile despite the nervous energy coursing through me. “Almost there. Is Shaun okay?”

 

“He’s fine. We’re gonna be okay,” he said, though I wasn’t sure if it was more for my sake or his that he offered the reassurance. His eyes softened as he looked at me. “I love you.”

 

“I love you, too,” I replied, almost in a whisper as I leaned forward to give him a quick kiss, holding on to his shoulder.

 

All of a sudden, an explosion rocked in the distance. I almost stumbled and fell and my heart stopped as I saw a mushroom cloud start to appear in the distance. It was too late now, whoever was left outside was doomed. All I heard was a guard shouting, “Now! Send it down now!”

 

“Hold on!” I shouted as I held on to Nate, mentally willing the lift to move faster as I watched the mushroom cloud bubble ever upward, the blast coming toward us faster and faster. Nate and I crouched as it rushed towards us, the lift lowering us below the blast just in time. I felt the earth rock as it moved past, and I wondered about the people left outside. The soldiers in power armor would probably be fine, but the civilians and those without it … it was extremely unlikely that they would survive. I swallowed hard as we were lowered further into the Vault, feeling numb. Everything was gone. Our lovely house, my well-tended garden, my neat little life that I had carved out for myself and my family … gone. Just like that.

 

As we reached the bottom, Nate whispered, “We did it, we made it. We’re okay …”

 

_Okay_ was a fairly relative term, I supposed. Physically we were fine, thanks to our quick actions. But emotionally, I was devastated. This was far from the life that I’d envisioned for us, for our son, growing up in a Vault. I sighed. _Better than a nuclear wasteland_ , I reminded myself, thankful that we were at least alive. This whole Vault dwelling thing would take some adjusting to, but as long as I had Nate and Shaun, I could do it. They were the most important things in my life and with them at my side, I could do anything.

 

The lift finally came to a halt and the doors opened to let us out. Vault-Tec security was already there to provide direction. “Everyone please step off the elevator and proceed up the stairs in an orderly fashion.”

 

Beside the security, a kindly looking man stood, his badge labeling him as Overseer. He smiled warmly at us as he said, “No need to worry, folks! We’ll get everyone situated in your new home. Vault 111! A better future, underground!”

 

I rolled my eyes at the obvious corporate plug, but everyone just nodded as they numbly made their way up the stairs. I followed a couple of our neighbors - the Russells - and Nate followed closely behind me. I could hear him cooing at Shaun, trying to keep him calm. It was a shame that we couldn’t bring Codsworth with us, but parents had been raising kids for, what, millions of years now? We would be fine. Perhaps Shaun just wouldn’t be getting a sibling after all, between the attention we both would have to give him and the likely limited supplies that the Vault offered. Who knew how long we would have to live down here? Months? Years? The thought made me feel like I was in a daze as I accepted a blue jumpsuit emblazoned with “111” on the back. “What now?” I asked, wondering just how existential the question sounded.

 

The Vault-Tec staff member replied simply, “Just follow the doctor, here. He’ll show you where to go.”

 

An older man wearing a white lab coat stood beside her, smiling kindly to try to help put people at ease. “Alright, you three, follow me!” I held Nate’s suit in my hand along with my own as we followed him down the hallway. It wasn’t as cramped as I’d been expecting, and I was thankful for that. With the varied locales I’d been stationed at in the army, I had been unlucky enough to be stationed in a tiny-ass bunker for a few months. I wasn’t claustrophobic, exactly, I just hated not having some space to move around in. It made me feel antsy and wiggly, eventually making me feel like I wanted to crawl up the walls. I had whooped the day I found out I was leaving the bunker, not caring that it wasn’t exactly a professional response. This, though, this wasn’t as bad. The halls were even wider than the hallway in my own house, and the rooms I saw so far looked pretty spacious. If the rest of the Vault was like this, I felt I would be okay. I was still going to hope we could leave soon, but until then I would survive.

 

I heard Nate talk gently to Shaun behind me, “See? This is our new home.” My heart warmed at his soft tone; Nate was a great father. He’d had some doubts when I’d gotten pregnant, even though we’d been wanting it. Actually being pregnant was different than trying for it, however, and it threw reality into a stark contrast for him. He’d struggled with some anxiety, agonizing over fatherhood, and I’d done my best to allay his fears. After Shaun was born, it was like he was a natural, like he was born to be a dad. He seemed happy in his new paternal role, just as I was in my maternal one.

 

Oblivious to what was going on behind him, the doctor prattled on, “You’re going to love it here. This is one of our most advanced facilities. Not that the others aren’t great, mind you …”

 

Nate spoke up next with a question, one I’m sure everyone had on their minds, “How long do you think we’ll be down here?”

 

“We’ll be going over all that in orientation. There’s just a few medical items we have to get through first.”

 

_Of course_. Typical. I hated just about all things medical, but it made sense. If anyone had any health issues, they wanted to know about it right away. Fortunately, my family was perfectly healthy, so I was sure we would pass any medical test with flying colours.

 

We followed the doctor until the hallway terminated into a long room with separate pods on either side. Curious, they looked unlike any medical device I’d seen previously, but Vault-Tec was known for maintaining a high quality of new and emerging technology, so it was likely something very new that hadn’t been introduced to the public just yet. “Just put your Vault suit on and step in your pods for decontamination.”

 

I was eternally grateful that I’d opted for plain underwear this morning instead of something scandalous as I stripped out of my clothes and pulled on the soft jumpsuit. It fit perfectly and I took a second to admire it before I stepped into the pod, Nate and Shaun just opposite me. “It’s gonna be okay, sweetie,” I said to Shaun. “Mommy will be right here. I love you.”

 

Nate held him up so he could see me as I waved from my pod. “See? There’s Mommy,” he cooed as he climbed into his own pod.

 

I smiled as the pod’s door was lowered, sealing us inside. I could just barely hear the doctor from the inside as he said, “The pod will decontaminate and depressurize you before we head deeper in the Vault. Just relax.”

 

Well, this was something new. I sat back and let out a breath, my toes wiggling as I mumbled to myself, “Time for a whole new life …” I wasn’t excited about leaving everything behind, just more or less resigned to my new fate. This wasn’t a part of the plan I’d had for my life, but this was my life now, and I would make it work. I always made it work.

 

Outside the pod I heard a computer voice ticking off a checklist. “Occupant: secure. Occupant vitals: normal. Procedure complete in 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 …”

 

I didn’t even have a chance to wonder what was happening as all of a sudden, everything went black.

 

———

 

It didn’t seem like very long when I next heard the same computer voice proclaim, “Manual override initiated. Cryogenic stasis suspended.”

 

The only thing my foggy mind could comprehend at first was _cryogenic stasis_ as I slowly opened my eyes. My vision was blurry and I blinked a few times to clear it before I was able to see out the small pod window. The only thing I could really see, at least at first, was the pod across from me, the one that Nate and Shaun was in. Suddenly, a mysterious figure in what looked like a hazard suit appeared, pointing at Nate’s pod as they declared, “This is the one. Here.”

 

Were they letting us out now? What was going on? The figure was joined by another person, a tall, bald man with a wicked looking scar carved down his face. I didn’t remember seeing him when we entered the Vault and I was immediately suspicious. They opened Nate’s pod and I could hear him coughing as he woke up, still holding our baby. I could hear Shaun start to cry as Nate asked, “Is it over? Are we okay?”

 

The person in the hazard suit replied, “Almost. Everything’s going to be fine.” They leaned forward into the pod as they said, “Come here … come here, baby.”

 

“No, wait, it’s okay,” Nate said as he tried to push them away. “I’ve got him.”

 

Something wasn’t quite adding up, and my heart beat faster as I helplessly watched the scene unfold in front of me. Hazard suit wasn’t giving up and simply reached for Shaun. Nate, finally sensing that something was wrong, only held him tighter, refusing to give up his son. My heart felt like it stopped as the bald man pulled out a gun and said, “Let the boy go. I’m only gonna tell you once.”

 

“I’m not giving you Shaun!” Nate yelled, shielding the baby as much as he could with his shoulder as he continued to struggle with hazard suit.

 

It was all for naught, of course, as bald scar pulled the trigger. The loud shot echoed in the enclosed chamber and Shaun started to wail as Nate slumped back into his pod, shock registering on his face before he started to fade. I screamed and cried as I pounded on the pod door, unable to open it from the inside, unable to help my husband and my son. _This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening!_ I kept repeating to myself as my chest felt painfully tight, as if someone was slowly squeezing it. My husband was dead, and now my son rested in the arms of a stranger, a stranger whose intentions were unknown. And I could do nothing.

 

“Goddamnit,” bald scar spat. “Get the kid out of here and let’s go.” Hazard suit disappeared down the hallway and as Nate’s pod door closed, bald scar leaned close to my pod. I just barely heard him as he said to himself, “At least we still have the backup …” I didn’t even have time to wonder what he was talking about before everything went to black once again.

 

———

 

Something was different, something was changing. Something was wrong. I woke up gasping and coughing, pounding on the pod door before I even realized what I was doing, surprised when it actually gave way. Distantly, I heard in the background the computer voice stating, “Critical failure in Cryogenic Array. All Vault residents must vacate immediately.” Once the pod door was fully open, I climbed out of the pod and stumbled onto the floor, struggling to catch my breath, my lungs burning. I felt like I’d spent a little too long underwater, which was odd considering that I’d simply been in a medical pod. Or was it a medical pod? I remembered something, a phrase, what was it … _cryogenic stasis_ … was that was it was? Was that what I had been under? My mind felt like mush as I struggled to put together what had happened, bits and pieces starting to come back to me.

 

The bomb that had gone off, that had destroyed our perfect life. Starting our new life in the Vault … but we hadn’t really even been in the Vault, had we? Had we just been in these damn pods the whole time? And then, horror washed over me as I remembered … I looked at the pod across from me, dragging myself to my feet as I stumbled over to its control panel, activating it and opening the pod to confirm my worst fear.

 

It hadn’t been a dream, then. It had been real. Nate had been killed and Shaun had been taken. I tenderly reached out to my husband’s body, preserved this whole time in stasis. He still looked the same as he did when we’d entered the Vault, young and strong, a light stubble dusting his jaw. If I hadn’t known better, if I hadn’t seen the bloody hole that marked the bullet wound, I would have thought he was simply asleep. Tears edged out of my eyes as I whispered, “Nate?” I knew he couldn’t hear me, I knew he was long gone, and I felt like a hot knife slowly impaled me in the chest as I saw evidence of that. I leaned forward and planted a kiss on his cold cheek, reaching to take his wedding ring with me. There would be nothing of his left on the surface, no mementos to remember him by. Just this and his memory. It wasn’t enough, it would never be enough, but it was all I had as slid the ring on my middle finger, next to mine. It was too big to wear on my ring finger, almost a little too big to wear on any of my fingers, but it fit well enough on my middle finger and I figured I could probably find something to hang it around my neck, even if it was just a cord. “I’ll find who did this,” I said softly, my voice shaking as I held back sobs. “I’ll find them, and I’ll get Shaun back. I promise.” I stared at him longingly, sorrowfully as I closed his pod door. This pod would be his tomb, his final resting place. It wasn’t a cemetery plot or an urn on a shelf, just an unmarked pod in a Vault that, from the looks of things, had been long forgotten.

 

Indeed, I could tell it looked run down just from a cursory glance, the metal rusting and the floor creaking just from me walking on it. I didn’t bother calling out as I slowly walked down the center aisle, spotting a computer at the end. I wondered if it would tell me what happened, but when I accessed it I could tell I was out of luck. It was just a computer for this chamber, though I discovered with horror that I was the only survivor in this room. The life support systems had apparently failed and everyone else had asphyxiated. Everyone except Nate, obviously, and myself, who had somehow been able to wake up and push my door open in time. No one else had woken up, and so they’d suffocated in their pods, still sleeping. Stunned, I went from room to room, discovering the same thing in each one. Every single person was dead. I was the sole survivor.

 

Numbly, I roamed the halls of the Vault, trying to wrap my head around everything. I couldn’t find a calendar or anything to tell me the date, and anyone that wasn’t in the pods … well, they were just as dead. Skeletons were scattered throughout the rooms and I cringed as I walked by them, wondering what had happened, what had gone so terribly wrong.

 

I suddenly stopped and listened as I heard a skittering noise, like an insect but much bigger and louder than I would have expected. I crouched slightly, trying to prepare for whatever might be there, when around the corner came the biggest roach I’d ever seen. _Yuck_. Revulsion shuddered through me as it detected my presence, running towards me. I reacted instinctively, stomping it until I heard the the sickening squish that indicated I’d connected where I needed to. I wiped the glowing green blood off of the bottom of my boot on a nearby wall and cautiously made my way forward, hoping I didn’t encounter any more. Of course, I should have known better, and I ended up squishing quite a few more until I finally stumbled upon a gun. It was a nice 10mm pistol, and I found a several boxes of ammo to go with it. As I looked around for something to help me carry them, I spied a dark grey messenger bag. _Perfect._ I stashed my ammo in there along with some medical supplies I found, some basic bandages and stimpaks. The few giant roaches that were still lingering in the Vault were easily picked off as I made my way to the entrance. I finally found the lobby, where a skeleton was sprawled behind a desk where a computer sat, its badge denoting that it was the Overseer, the man who had greeted us when we entered. I pulled up the chair and switched on the computer, hoping that I could access the door controls with it. It looked like I could, but my fingers froze over the log option. After hesitating for a moment, I pressed the button, determined to see what exactly had happened.

 

I still couldn’t get a current date, but it seemed that in the following months after the detonation, the Overseer had run the Vault as well as he could. However, supplies dwindled, and since he refused to let anyone out due to receiving no word from Vault-Tec headquarters, the security team tried to lead a coup. The logs simply ended, leaving me no real answers, though I suspected that they were successful due to no further logs in the Overseer’s terminal. I sat back for a moment, gathering my thoughts. After a moment, I sat forward again and activated the lock for the door, opening up the Vault entrance. One thing was clear, and that was that I needed to find my son. I had no idea where I would even start to look, but he was the only thing of worth left in my life, and I _would_ find him.

 

At the door controls for the Vault itself, I pushed a few different buttons, trying to figure out how to activate the main door so I could leave, but the computer voice told me, “Pip-Boy interface required to activate Vault door cycling sequence.” Pip-Boy, I remembered those, the little portable computers people used to wear around their wrists. I’d had one in the army, but hadn’t bothered to purchase one as a civilian. I didn’t have to look far to find one as one laid at my feet, the skeletonized arm of its previous owner still encased in the cuff. I gingerly picked it up and opened it, dropping the bone and dusting it off before I affixed it to my arm, praying that it still worked. I wiped the dust off the screen as I attempted to boot it up, and I was rewarded with the OS loading screen, confirming all was well before it fully booted up. Thank goodness it still worked, or I might have been doomed to stay where I was. A quick interface later and the same computer voice stated, “Vault door cycling sequence initiated. Please stand back.” Big, heavy looking machinery moved to release the locks on the door and roll it open, and I waited until the metal walkway extended to connect with the next room, the one the elevator was in that we’d ridden down as a bomb was detonated. I still clearly remembered the “I love you’s” that Nate and I had exchanged. We hadn’t known it, but it would be the last time we shared the sentiment with each other. A lone tear made its way down my cheek as I stood on the same spot on the platform as I had when I entered, the computer voice telling me, “Enjoy your return to the surface. And thank you for choosing Vault-Tec.”

 

_Fuck you_ , I thought bitterly as the elevator ascended. Sure, I had survived the initial fallout, but for what? For my husband to be murdered right in front of me? My son taken as I sat there, helpless to save him? The possibility that Shaun was still alive was the only driving force within me, the only thing that kept me going as I rode the platform to the surface.

 

Soon, the final doors above me opened, and I squinted as I raised my hand to shield my eyes from the blinding sunlight. As the elevator stopped, I took a moment to let my eyes blink and focus. And when they did, I felt my heart drop again at the sight before me.


	2. The woman out of time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I got this chapter banged out a lot quicker than I thought I would, so I figured why not update. If I keep up this pace, I better hurry up and finish Riisa's play-through in game! LOL

I just stood there for a moment, gaping in awe at the sight. Not that I thought the area would withstand a nuclear blast with minimal damage, it was just disheartening to actually see the results. Trees had been stripped, if they even still stood upright. The land looked barren, lifeless. I didn’t see as many bodies as I expected, but perhaps that was a good thing. After standing there for a moment, trying to get my bearings, I realized that there were still crates sitting around, crates undoubtedly meant to have been delivered to the Vault but that hadn’t made it in time. I pried them open to find some Rad-X and RadAway, which I pocketed, figuring I might need it if the radiation levels hadn’t gone down enough yet. There was also some ammo stuck in the boxes, some of it 10mm, some of it other caliber. I took them anyway, just in case. If I found a gun to go with it, then I had a variety of weapons. If not, I could always sell or trade it for other things. If I could even find anyone to trade with. I tried not to think about it too much as I took one last look at the Vault area before slowly trudging towards Sanctuary Hills.

 

I wasn’t sure what to expect, if our house was still standing or if it had been flattened by the shock wave, but as I cleared the small forest area, it appeared that the houses were mostly intact. Obviously a lot more rough, missing some windows and walls - or even a ceiling or two - but the basic structures still stood. I didn’t know what exactly I felt as I walked that familiar street until I finally stopped in front of a rusted mailbox, _my_ mailbox - grief. This had been one of the most beautiful little suburbs I’d ever seen. The neighbors were all friendly and helpful, all of the houses were kept up beautifully, everyone planted _something_ in their yard to contribute to the local flora. We’d had _pride_ on how the neighborhood looked, and now it was all gone. The grass was overgrown, where it even grew at all, and where it didn’t was rough patches of dirt and rocks. There were the remnants of a few halloween decorations that were somehow still hanging, but they were faded and wilted, just like the whole area. I would have cried at the sight, had I not felt so numb.

 

Suddenly, movement caught my eye as an oddly familiar figure popped out of my old house and tittered around the perimeter. Shocked, I slowly approached the dull metallic object, not knowing quite what to say until it detected my presence, spun around and said, “As I live and breathe. It’s … it’s _really_ you!”

 

“Codsworth? You’re still here?”

 

“Of course, mum! But my, you look distraught. Perhaps sir can offer one of those hugs you humans are so fond of? Speaking of, where is your better half?”

 

I couldn’t contain the few tears that ran down my cheeks as I felt like I’d taken a knife to my gut. “They … they killed him. Two people, they came into the Vault and shot Nate.” I said softly, my voice trembling. “He’s gone.”

 

His spindly robot arms whirred as he bounced in place. “Mum, these things you’re saying, these … terrible things … I … I believe you need a distraction. Yes! A distraction to calm this dire mood. It’s been _ages_ since we’ve had a proper family activity. Checkers, or perhaps charades? Shaun does so love that game, even though he doesn’t talk. Is the lad … uh, with you?”

 

My fist clenched as my resolve hardened even further. “Shaun’s been kidnapped. But I’m going to find him; I’m going to get my baby back.”

 

“Oh dear, dear, dear, it’s worse than I thought. Hmmm hmmm. You’re suffering from hunger induced paranoia. Not eating properly for 200 years will do that, I’m afraid!”

 

I froze, unable to even think for a moment after hearing that. Looking up at Codsworth with great effort, I asked, “200 years?”

 

“A bit over 210 actually, mum. Give or take a little for the Earth’s rotation and some minor dings to the ol’ chronometer. That means you’re two centuries late for dinner! Ha ha. Perhaps I can whip you up a snack? You must be famished.”

 

On the contrary, I felt sick to my stomach. I set my hand on my stomach for a second as I tried to keep myself from throwing up, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. After the initial shock of how much time had passed since I’d entered the Vault, something struck me. “Codsworth, you’re acting … a little weird. What’s wrong?”

 

“I … I …” the robot stuttered for a moment before finally breaking. “Oh, mum, it’s just been horrible! Two centuries with no one to talk to, no one to serve. I spent the first ten years trying to keep the floors waxed, but nothing gets out nuclear fallout from vinyl wood, nothing! And don’t get me started on the futility of dusting a collapsed house. And the car, the car! How do you polish _rust_?”

 

I felt quite sorry for my robot buddy, realizing that the detonation must have been pretty traumatic for him as well. I interrupted his ranting to try to calm him down. “Hey, Codsworth, stay with me, buddy. Focus.”

 

He still seemed a bit distressed, but he at least calmed down somewhat as he said, “I’m afraid I don’t know anything, mum. The bombs came and all of you left in such a hurry. I thought for certain that you and your family - _my_ family - were … dead.” He paused for a moment, then spun his appendages as he added, holding out a tape, “I did find this holotape, though! I believe sir was going to present it to you as a surprise, but then, well … everything _happened_.”

 

I pursed my lips as I took the tape from him, unsure if I wanted to play it just yet or not, but thankful that I had it. “Thank you, Codsworth.”

 

“You’re welcome,” he replied, seemingly recovering from his moment of distress. “Now, enough feeling sorry for myself. Shall we search the neighborhood together? Sir and young Shaun may turn up yet.”

 

I hadn’t the heart to tell him, again, that Nate was dead and Shaun had been taken. That they wouldn’t just “turn up” because I’d left Nate’s body in one of the pod’s in the Vault and last I’d seen Shaun he’d been taken by hazard suit and bald scar. Even though some would have said that Codsworth was just a robot, he was more than that to me. He’d been there for me for the last part of my pregnancy, doting on me when I was so exhausted I could barely move from the couch. He’d been there when we came home with Shaun, making sure we were all comfortable and situated. He tended to Shaun in the night so Nate and I could rest and also fixed us meals when we were too caught up in our new roles as parents to notice the time. He was more than just a robot, or even just a friend. He was a part of my family … and, currently, the only part I had with me. “Alright, then. Lead the way.”

 

I pulled out my pistol, making sure it was fully loaded before I followed behind the bobbing robot as we traipsed around the neighborhood. I didn’t even expect to find anything at all, though it seemed the old houses weren’t completely empty. There were some more of those damn roaches, and some large, flying bugs that looked similar to mosquitos. I barely dodged one of them in time before I dropped to the ground and aimed, my shot finding the middle of its body. We went from house to house, clearing it of giant, mutated insects, but finding nothing more than that. As I walked through the gutted ruins of the Rosa’s house, I couldn’t help but wonder about some of my neighbors, the ones who hadn’t been in the Vault. Had any of them managed to survive? If so, where had they gone? I remembered one of my neighbors say something about trying to get to the coast as I’d run past them … had they been able to get enough of a head start to escape the brunt of the blast? I supposed I would never know what happened. I didn’t know if that was worse than knowing, if letting my imagine run wild with possibilities beat the hard truth or if it was the other way around. I was pretty damn imaginative … then again, so was war when it came to suffering. I could only hope that if they did die, that it was quick and painless.

 

I kicked the body of a large fly aside, collecting the flip lighter that it had fallen onto. Lighters were always useful in some way. Codsworth seemed a bit dejected as he said, “Miss Riisa, your family isn’t here. They’re … they’re really gone, aren’t they?”

 

I nodded, adding, “Shaun’s still out there, Codsworth. I need to find him.”

 

“What about Concord, mum? There’s plenty of people there. And last I checked, they only pummeled me with sticks a few times before I had to run back home.”

 

This was the first I’d heard of anyone else, the first evidence I had of other people being alive at all, aside from the people who had killed Nate and taken Shaun. Because of them I obviously knew _someone_ was alive and kicking, but I didn’t know how many there might be. The fact they’d tried to beat Codsworth didn’t really set too well with me, but I figured with my army training, I could take them on. We could be intimidating if we needed to be, and if that wasn’t enough I still had that 10mm. Pistol beat sticks any day of the week. “Thanks for your help, Codsworth. I’ll make my way there and see if I can find anything out.”

 

“And I shall hold down the fort, here!” he declared. “Good luck, mum. You’ll find young Shaun, I know you will.”

 

He hummed as he exited the house we were in, hovering over to our old house and returning to tending the yard as he’d been doing when I initially saw him. I followed him out and paused in the doorway for a moment, wondering just what Concord would hold. I didn’t know much about this whole new world I’d woken up in, but one thing was certain, I sure couldn’t find out by staying home. I checked my ammo, swept through the houses to see if there was anything else useful to add to my bag, and then set off down the street, heading for the bridge that denoted the beginning of the small subdivision. At the end of the bridge, I saw a strange, mutated dog looking creature and a human, the body much fresher than the skeletons I’d seen. Flies were buzzing all around, and I held my arm to my nose as I bent over to see if there was anything useful left behind. I found an odd looking pistol on him that looked like it was constructed out of pipes and random junk, but it appeared to take .38 rounds, which I had some of, so I stuck it in my pack. He also had what looked like some primitive pieces of armor constructed out of leather, so I took what I could get off of him, slinging on the chest and shoulder piece. Any little bit helped.

 

As I walked down the road, I saw that the Red Rocket sign was still there, and it filled me with a strange sense of nostalgia. I doubted that it was still in service, but I was curious if the building was still there. If it was, perhaps there was something to scavenge from it. Hopefully not all the useful items had been taken in the last 200 years or so. The station was fairly isolated - the only one between Concord and Sanctuary Hills - so I hoped that meant it was not a large target, considering there were other, larger stations closer to bigger cities.

 

When I got close to the building - most of which was still standing, impressively - I noticed movement through the windows. I couldn’t make out what it was at first, and I kept my gun at the ready in case it was unfriendly. I heard the clacking of something against cement and I stood my ground, holding up my gun, waiting for a shot to take aim at as soon as whatever it was came into sight. I held my breath for a moment … and then a German Shepherd appeared in the bay, its nails clicking against the hard surface. I lowered my gun, amazed to see the dog, wondering if it was friendly. He looked up as he realized I was standing there and started to wag his tail, gently trotting forward. I lowered myself to one knee, offering my hand as I said, “That’s a good boy. You lose your owner?” It seemed awfully strange that the breed of German Shepherds had not simply evolved into mutts, but perhaps some people had kept breeding them for guard and attack dogs. They were a pretty hardy breed, very intelligent and meant for working with humans. _Better than a chihuahua, I suppose_. “You wanna come with me?” I asked, not wanting to just leave the poor boy there all alone. While I was sure he would probably be fine on his own, German Shepherds did best when presented with a job, and I had one for him - companion. I knew the road I was about to travel was going to be a very lonely one, and if I had even just a dog for company, it would make it a little easier. Plus, maybe he could help me find Shaun, or the people who had taken him.

 

The dog barked in response and sat on his haunches, wagging his tail as his tongue hung out of his mouth, making it look like he was smiling. I supposed that was a “yes”, and said, “Alright, well, let’s see if there’s still something worth taking around here.”

 

He followed me into the station as I rummaged through drawers and shelves. I found a few useful tools that I tucked into my bag, along with a box full of bottle caps that would be good scrap and some pre-war money left in the register. I didn’t know if anyone even used money as currency anymore, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to take it as I threw it in along with some random food items that looked like they were still good. I hoped they were at least. There wasn’t much else to be found, and so we made our way back out of the station as I cased around the outside, opening dumpsters and machines to see if there was anything worth my time. While I was picking through the few items left in the dumpster, I heard the dog bark, and my head snapped up to see what he was alerting to. Grabbing my gun, I headed back around to the front of the station to see _giant fucking mole rats_ popping out of the ground. _What in the fucking hell?_ I took aim and started to pick them off, careful of the dog as he took on several, himself. He was unsurprisingly brutal, getting a good grip on them and then shaking them to immobilize them, then flipping them onto their back before ripping their throats out. I cocked an eyebrow to see him at work. “Good boy,” I praised as the last one went down, reaching out to pet him. He lapped up the praise and attention like he’d been starved for human touch. _Poor guy, I wonder how long he’s been without someone?_

 

An idea came to me then, and I reached into my backpack, rustling around in it for a bit before I found what I was looking for: a red scarf. It wasn’t much, but it would help mark him as owned, and also help identify him in a skirmish. He sat still as I tied it around his neck, tight enough to not fall off easily yet loose enough where he could wiggle out of it if it ever got caught in something. When I stood up, admiring my handiwork, he panted with his tongue out, as if he was proud. I patted his head one more time and said, “Okay, boy, you up for a trip to Concord?”

 

He barked once and stood up, looking at me to lead the way. I headed back out to the road, the dog on my heels, and I followed it until I arrived in the city of Concord. I went forward cautiously, wondering just who Codsworth had encountered when he had been here before. Of course, he hadn’t said _when_ he’d been there, it could have been a couple of weeks or it could have been 50 years, I hadn’t asked him for clarification. I wished I had as my canine companion and I moved forward slowly, taking in whatever we could see, keeping on the lookout for threats.

 

At first it was almost deathly quiet, and I wondered if we would encounter anyone at all when a I heard a familiar “pop pop” in the distance. Instantly at the ready, I crouched and moved forward quietly, taking cover and checking my surroundings before advancing to the next place of cover. Soon enough I found the street where all the action was. It seemed that a group of individuals was having a shootout with somebody in a building across from them. I quietly crept forward, trying to get a grasp on the situation before I reacted, but a decision was made for me when one of them turned around to grab some more ammo, spotted me, and shouted, “There’s another one! Get her!”

 

I instantly fired off two rounds, hitting him in the shoulder and the head. Brain matter and blood sprayed on the person next to him as he fell to the ground. She flinched for a moment, wiping her face off before trying to aim and fire at me, but those precious seconds cost her as I put a bullet in her head before she could get off one round. The other two people on the street I took out with ease, using only a total of six bullets once all was said and done. I reloaded as I approached the building they’d been shooting at and heard their target call out, “Hey, you there! Help us, please, we’re trapped in here!”

 

Never one to leave a man behind, I didn’t even question it as I opened the door to what used to be the Freedom Museum.

 

Since I didn’t know what I was walking into, I moved forward with caution, expecting the worst. The dog kept himself close to me, seemingly used to confrontation. It was a bit sad, to me, that he was used to people shooting at him, but I would do anything I could to keep my new buddy safe and he seemed to know that.

 

The ceiling in front of me had collapsed, and there was somebody up there. I waited for a moment to see if they were friend or foe when they realized I was there and started shooting. _Foe it is, then_. I shot twice back at them, winging them in the shoulder and then catching them in the chest. They fell and I noticed that there was a large duffel bag near them. I marked it down in my mind to check out when I could, as I suspected there might be a nice cache of ammo and maybe some other weapons in there as well. And, if I was _really_ lucky, some supplies to add to the first aid kit I was assembling. First things first, though, I had to actually get to it, which was not as easy as just going from point a to point b. I had to be careful, as I didn’t know how many hostiles were actually in here. I had to assume there was an enemy around every corner. It was a pretty good assumption to make; as soon as I determined the large, ornate door in front of me was locked tight, I went to find another way up to the second level and almost ran smack into someone else that was coming down to see what the commotion was all about. I didn’t even have time to get off a shot before the dog leapt forward, catching the person off guard and sending him tumbling to his back. I took the opportunity and let off a shot that hit him in the throat. Blood spurted onto the floor as he tried to stem the flow, but it was far too late. The dog kept him too occupied to do much and he quickly bled out. I checked him over and took his weapon and what ammo he had on him, not finding much of use on him. The dog joined me again as we attempted to retrace his steps. He’d undoubtedly had come from the upper level, so now we just had to figure out how he’d gotten back down here.

 

Through the door he’d come through, there was a hallway that looked it like had been blown out, there was so much debris everywhere. I almost jumped as I saw another figure ahead, but I realized it was only a mannequin and relaxed a little. I made my way through the next couple of rooms, their display cases broken and scattered, their contents littering the floor. As I followed the logical path, I found a large room with a staircase where most of the floor had collapsed. _There_. That would be my way up. I took out the hostile as they tried to run down the stairs at me and carefully picked my way across the creaking floor and climbed over a portion of the banister to get to the steps, immediately raising my gun again as I continued to advance. I snatched the switchblade from the small table sitting on one of the landings, figuring I could always use a small blade before I ascended the rest of the steps, sweeping the area. Two more hostiles were waiting down the hall, but I took out one while the dog distracted the other. As my target fell, I went to assist my little buddy, and became enraged when the guy swung at him. I mean, it was a fairly typical response, but my feelings didn’t care as I ripped three bullets into him, hitting him twice in the chest and once in the gut. He was finished as he keeled over, sputtering blood from his mouth as he bled out. I didn’t even wait for him to expire as I manhandled him, taking what little he had of value on him before I moved to his companion.

 

You don’t hit my dog.

 

I took the ammo from the last guy and turned to my companion. “You okay, buddy?” He wagged his tail and licked my hand and I scratched behind his ears. I would have to be careful where I took him; I had bonded to him pretty quickly, losing him would be devastating.

 

I fastened on some leather equipment to my legs, hoping that it would help stabilize me and give me some padding for extra protection. I hadn’t eaten since I came out of the Vault, and I realized suddenly how dry my mouth was and how hungry I really was. Even though I’d been in cryo, it had been over 200 years since I last ate. Hell, the last thing I even remembered consuming was that coffee … shit, what I wouldn’t give for a cup of the strong stuff now. Maybe it was the time spent in deep freeze, but I was starting to feel winded. Granted, when I had gone under, I hadn’t been as in peak shape as I’d been in the military, but I’d still been pretty fit, probably better than the average person. I was going to have to work on my stamina.

 

I continued ever forward, keeping an eye and ear out for trouble, and I heard someone in the distance, someone shouting some threatening message, presumably to whoever had begged me to come and assist them. As I climbed up a few steps, I saw someone ahead and fired off a shot. I didn’t hit them, unfortunately, but they stupidly poked back around the door. _Idiot_. Obviously not trained in any fashion. A couple of shots later and they were lying on the floor. Good thing they had been slow on the draw, too, they had a nice looking shotgun and quite a few shells on them. I grabbed up the ammo and checked the gun, seeing that it was still fully loaded. I crept around the door, still hearing someone else, and fired on the hostile as they had their back to me. It only took one shot and they were down. I smirked, proud of my handiwork as I went toward that duffel bag that I’d seen earlier. Sure enough, there was some ammo, a couple of guns, and several different incendiary devices that could prove useful, from frag grenades to molotov cocktails. _Nice_.

 

I heard somebody call out, “Over here!” It was the same person who had beckoned me into the museum, I recognized, and I continued down the hallway to the room that it terminated in. There were several people in the room but it seemed only one armed. Only one with any substantial firepower, at least, as he held a strange looking gun that pulsed red. The armed man stepped forward, a smile of relief on his face as he said, “Man, I don’t know who you are, but your timing’s impeccable. Preston Garvey, Commonwealth Minutemen.”

 

“Minutemen? So now I’m traveling _back_ in time?” I asked with a slight chuckle.

 

Preston didn’t miss a beat. “‘Protect the people at a minute’s notice.’ That was the idea. So I joined up, wanting to make a different. And I did, _we_ did, but … things fell apart. Now, it looks like I’m the last Minuteman left standing.”

 

“Who are these people?” I asked, motioning to the group that was somewhat scattered through the room.

 

“Just folks lookin’ for a new home, a fresh start. I’ve been with ‘em since Quincy. Lexington looked good for a while, but the ghouls drove us outta there.” He sighed as he continued, “A month ago, there were 20 of us. Yesterday there were 8. Now we’re just 5. It’s just me, the Longs - Marcy and Jun - Mamma Murphy, and Sturges.”

 

“Hey,” Sturges offered as he looked up briefly from the terminal he was working at.

 

I nodded at him as I said to Preston, “Sorry. Sounds rough.”

 

“Thanks,” he replied. “It’s … good to meet someone who actually cares. Anyway, we figured Concord would be a safe place to settle. Those raiders proved us wrong, though, and we ended up stranded here in the museum. But … well, we do have one idea.”

 

“What’s that?” I asked, ready to assist them.

 

Preston turned to Sturges. “Sturges? Go ahead and tell her.”

 

Sturges turned and started to explained, “There’s a crashed vertibird up on the roof. Old school, pre-war. Might’ve seen it. Well, looks like one of its passengers left behind a seriously sweet goodie … we’re talking a full set of cherry T45 power armor. Military issue.”

 

I cocked an eyebrow, definitely intrigued. Power armor would be invaluable, especially now. The only question was if it would actually run. But I supposed I would cross that bridge when I got to it. “I like it,” I said with a grin.

 

Sturges laughed. “Yeah, I thought you might. Protection with an added bonus. You get the suit, you can rip the mini-gun right off the vertibird. Do that, and those raiders get an express ticket to hell. You dig?”

 

Hell … wasn’t I already in hell? But I couldn’t complain about helping some innocent people by taking out some miscreants. “Sounds like a plan.”

 

He nodded as he added, “Now, as for the armor, it’s outta juice.”

 

_Fuck. Because of course it is, it would be too easy._

 

Sturges didn’t notice my momentary distraction as he continued. “Probably has been for a hundred years. It _can_ be powered up again, but … we’re a bit stuck …”

 

“Got a plan?” I asked.

 

Preston replied this time. “What we need is an old pre-war FC - a standardized fusion core, your high grade, long term nuclear battery.used by the military and some companies way back when. And we know right where to find one.”

 

“But …” Sturges interrupted. “We can’t get to the damn thing. It’s down in the basement, locked behind a security gate.” He ran his hands through his dark hair as he said, “Look, I fix stuff, I tinker. Bypassing security ain’t exactly my forte.”

 

But it was one of mine. “Leave that to me.”

 

I left the group and made my way back down the levels. As I got to the large room with the staircase and the fallen floor, I saw the security door clear as day. I carefully picked my way through the fallen beams and splintered wood as I jumped down, telling the dog to stay on the stairs so he wouldn’t get hurt. He obeyed, standing there watching me, whining once in a while like he was supervising me anxiously. I jiggled the door of the security gate and of course it didn’t budge. I took a look and found that it was only physically locked, not electronically like some doors. That was a bonus, I wouldn’t have to hack any computers to open it, just pick the lock. I dug around in my bag for some bobby pins that I’d found back in one of the homes in Sanctuary Hills, figuring it work perfectly. I bent them just so and got to work, surprised that the lock wasn’t as difficult as I’d thought it would be. A novice with little knowledge of lock picking could have opened it, but I didn’t judge Sturges or the others too harshly. They probably hadn’t even tried.

 

The gate swung open with a creak and I entered the small room, sweeping the area until I found what I needed. I twisted and pulled it out of the plug it had been set in, hoping that it had enough power so I could use the power armor. That would be a great boon to me, as somebody in power armor was not somebody you wanted to mess with.

 

Once I’d retrieved the core, I made my way back up the stairs and back to the room the settlers were in, the dog at my heels once more. I held it up as I got into the room, “Got it!”

 

“Alright,” Preston said with a grin. “Maybe our luck’s finally turning around. Once you jack the core into the power armor and grab that mini-gun, those raiders’ll know they picked the wrong fight. Good luck.”

 

I nodded, turning to the dog at my side. “Stay here, boy.” He whined, but sat, understanding the command. I didn’t know how hairy it might get out there, I wanted him to stay somewhere safe. I would be fine, especially if I had some power armor on. Nothing to worry about, right?

 

Preston pointed me where I could get to the roof and I thanked him as I set off, the fusion core in my hand. I’d decided to leave my bag with them, just in case something happened, that way they’d have some extra weapons, ammo, and some first aid. I took only my 10mm and a couple of rounds worth of bullets that I stuck in my pockets. Even though I’d have the mini-gun, it was never a bad idea to have backup, just in case.

 

The roof was easy enough to get to, and sure enough a set of power armor just stood there, waiting for someone to power it up and use it. I slid the fusion core into it, letting out a sigh of relief as I could tell it was powering up. It opened up and I stepped inside it, letting it encase me in the metal exoskeleton. I felt much better having the protection as I went to grab the mini-gun, wrenching it off of its mount that held it on the aircraft. Now this, this was familiar to me.

 

It seemed the raiders hadn’t waited for us as I heard the familiar pops and bangs that accompanied gunfire. I also heard the loud zaps of Preston’s odd laser gun as he helped fend them off. One of them was on the roof directly across from me, and I opened fire, spraying him and dropping him quickly. I stepped forward to the edge of the building, hoping it wouldn’t crumble under the weight of the suit, but it held up. Down in the street I could see several raiders getting into position and I aimed some shots at them as well, catching one as he ran for cover and another as the bullets penetrated the pitiful sandbags that they’d been hiding behind. Easy as pie.

 

I took the pause as an opportunity to drop down to the street below, knowing the armor would cushion my fall. It still jolted me, but it wasn’t fatal and didn’t injure me as it would have had I attempted to do the same without the power armor. There were still several raiders that darted around, taking cover for a few moments before they snuck off some shots, some at me and some at Preston. I hoped Garvey would do the smart thing and let me take care of the situation as I charged forward, letting loose on them. They were wholly outgunned and outmatched and they were mowed down with ease. _Shit, I’m not even breaking a sweat, here_ , I thought as I swept through the street, making sure I was catching everyone. Just as I thought I’d gotten everybody, a few appeared at the end of the street and I advanced on them, spraying their general direction with bullets. With a mini-gun, there wasn’t really a way to be totally precise with your shots, given that even with power armor the gun was very powerful and tended to alter the course of whatever shot you were taking. It was more of a spray and pray type of situation, though slightly less pray since my opponents didn’t even have power armor of their own to protect them. I cut through them like they were rag dolls, and I made a mental note to run by the bodies later to see if they were holding anything good.

 

It was then, when I approached the end of the street, that I felt a rumble jolt through the ground. I paused to catch my balance, wondering what the hell was going on. It had felt almost like a bomb going off, but there was no explosion, no fire, no nothing. I wondered for a moment if I had imagined it when something tore through the ground in front of me and clawed its way up, like a demon out of hell. As the dark scaled, horned creature bore down on me, only one thing ran through my mind.

 

_What in the ever loving fuck?!_


	3. The consequences of old hubris

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay, as I've posted in my other updates, my keyboard gave up the ghost so I was unable to write and update as usual. That plus life and everything has delayed this shit until now. Sorry.
> 
> Also, just to note, I have created an e-mail exclusively for AO3, so if anyone would like to get in contact with me outside of the comment section of one of my stories, feel free to shoot an e-mail to me at emmadilla.ao3@gmail.com.
> 
> Anyway, I hope the wait was worth it!

My concern about the raiders immediately went to zero as I focused on this new, literal monster of an opponent. I took a couple of steps back as I took aim with the mini-gun and started spraying, pissing it off between my bullets and that of the raiders who’d immediately reevaluated their own priorities as well. Since they were closer, they bore the brunt of the creature’s wrath as it roared before pouncing on them, its sharp claws sending one of them flying before it grabbed the other and slammed their body on the ground, no doubt breaking their spine in the process.

 

At least that would be one less raider for me to worry about.

 

After the monster took care of the only remaining raider, it turned its attention on me, its beady black eyes shining with rage as it roared and ran towards me, its tail whipping around. I backed up as quickly as I could, but with the power armor my agility was limited. I wasn’t about to turn and run and give it a shot at my back, however, so I kept pouring bullets into it as it kept coming at me. It was remarkably fast and agile for its size, and I knew the only chance I had was to try to keep some distance between us while I put as many bullets as I could into it. As it bore down on me, the worse thing in the world that could have happened, happened: the mini-gun jammed.

 

Cursing, I threw down the weapon and pulled out my 10mm that I’d thankfully had the foresight to store on me before I came out here, putting a couple of bullets between the creature’s eyes before it finally fell.

 

I was shaking as I cleared the rest of the area, finding no more raiders but needing the time to come down, to let the adrenaline stop coursing through my system as much as it had been. Just what the fuck had that thing been? I had seen some mutated bugs before, but what had turned into _that_? I shuddered as I made my way back to the Freedom Museum where the settlers were waiting for me. I was going to have some serious questions for Preston and his crew before I went exploring much further in the area.

 

As I re-entered through the front doors, I saw the settlers had all gathered in the atrium area instead of staying in the upstairs room. The dog had joined them, still waiting for me to come back, and he was on his feet and wagging his tail as soon as I came in. I reached down to pet him before I made my way over to Preston. As he saw me approach, he commented, “That was … a pretty amazing display.” He chuckled as he added, “I’m just glad you’re on our side.”

 

I grinned at the compliment as I asked, “You guys going to be okay now?”

 

“Yeah. For a while, anyway,” he replied. “We can at least move someplace safer.” He paused for a moment before he said, “Listen, when we first met, you asked about the Minutemen? One thing you should know about us, we help out our friends. So here, for everything you’ve done, thank you.”

 

He held out his hand to give me something and I held out mine to take it. In it, he had a small bag, and when I opened it, it was full of bottlecaps. “What’s this?” I asked, puzzled at why he would hand me junk like this.

 

He chuckled. “You’re pretty new around here, aren’t you? Caps are currency nowadays, paper money is out. I haven’t seen any of the old bills since I was a kid, and even then it was useless, just being sold as paper scrap.”

 

I raised my eyebrow. Well, at least I knew. I had to wonder what else I had to learn that was seemingly every day things for everyone else but brand spankin’ new to me. “I see. Well, in that case, thank you. So … what happens now?”

 

“For the longest time, Mama Murphy’s had a vision of a place called ‘Sanctuary’. Some old neighborhood just north of here … but one we can make new again. Why don’t you come with us? I could really use your help.”

 

My first priority was my son, finding him and rescuing him from whoever had taken him. But something in me wanted to accompany Preston and his group, to help them out. And if this “Sanctuary” was the place I was thinking it was, I was really just going to be heading back home … or, rather, what was left of it. I smiled slightly at the thought of people moving into the old neighborhood, tearing down the dilapidated structures and rebuilding a new place. It was a good feeling, the thought that that place wouldn’t just remain abandoned forever. As much as I needed to find my son, I also needed a place to bring him to after I found him, and I also needed to catch up on everything I’d missed while I was on ice. This was the perfect opportunity. Maybe I _could_ raise Shaun in Sanctuary Hills after all. “Alright, Garvey, I’m in.”

 

Mama Murphy was the one who spoke up next, sitting on a bench near Preston. “Oh, that’s wonderful. But there’s more to your destiny, isn’t there? I’ve seen it … and I know your pain.”

 

I wasn’t sure what the old woman was on about, but it struck eerily close to home. “My destiny? What do you mean?”

 

She continued, the trembling timber of her voice sending shivers up my spine. Or maybe it was what she said. “You’re a woman out of time. Out of hope. But all’s not lost. I can feel … your son’s energy. He’s alive.”

 

My breath caught in my throat. “Where? Where is he?”

 

“Oh, I wish I knew, kid, I really do. But it’s not like I can _see_ your son. I can just … feel his life force, his energy. He’s out there.” Her thin lips twisted upward in a half smile as she added, “And even I don’t need the Sight to tell you where you should start lookin’: the great, green jewel of the Commonwealth, Diamond City. The biggest settlement around.”

 

“What’s in Diamond City? You think he might be there?”

 

She sighed as she said, “Look, kid, I’m tired now. Maybe you bring me some chems later, the Sight will paint a clearer picture.”

 

“No!” Preston exclaimed. “Mama Murphy, we talked about this. That junk, it’s gonna kill you …”

 

She waved him off, clearly unconcerned. “Oh shush, Preston, we’re all gonna die eventually. We’re gonna need the Sight. And our new friend here, she’s gonna need it, too. Now, let’s get goin’. Sanctuary awaits.”

 

Preston Garvey settled his hat back on his head and readied his peculiar laser gun. “Alright, folks, thanks to our friend here, it’s safe to move out. We’re heading to that new place Mama Murphy knows about, Sanctuary. It’s not far.”

 

One of the settlers - Marcy Long, if I remembered correctly - rolled her eyes. “She knows about it? You mean she had one of her ‘visions’ while she was stoned out of her gourd. And now you want us to just head out on another wild goose chase based on no better plan than ‘Mama Murphy saw it’?”

 

There was an edge to Preston’s voice as he started to say, “It can’t be any worse than …”

 

At that point, Sturges interrupted Garvey. I hadn’t been sure what Preston was about to say, but it sounded an awful lot like a jab and since Sturges felt the need to intervene, it would have likely been a painful one. “Hold on, hold on, everyone just take it easy. We’re all in this together, right? So, Marcy, you got a better idea of what to do next?” The woman stayed silent, gnawing on her lip. “Anybody?” Still silence. “Well then, Sanctuary it is. Let’s just hope it lives up to its name.”

 

And so it was that we set out for Sanctuary. I’d had my suspicions, but when we started back on the road that I had just come from, it was all but confirmed; we were heading back to my old subdivision. Realistically, it would make a nice settlement. There was just a bridge that connected it to the road that the river ran under, and the terrain on the other sides was not exactly easy to traverse. Defenses would be easy enough to set up. There was also plenty of room for people to live, for gardens to be planted, even for some shops to be set up if they wanted to be that ambitious. It was also a nice distance away from the cities, which had been part of my reason for moving there in the first place. If the other cities contained raiders like Concord did, then the distance was a real boon, since it was unlikely they would risk going so far to strike. I wasn’t sure how exactly Mama Murphy knew about the place, but it seemed there was some truth to whatever visions she saw.

 

As we walked down the street, past the giant mutated son of a bitch I’d taken out earlier, Sturges let out a low whistle. “Can’t believe you took that thing out.”

 

Preston added, “That’s the first time I’ve seen one of those things up close. I’m very glad it’s dead.”

 

“What are they?” I asked.

 

“Deathclaws,” Preston replied, and I swore everyone in the party shuddered.

 

“What are Deathclaws? I mean, most of the creatures I’ve seen mutated from something but … I have no idea where that could have come from.”

 

Preston chuckled. “Interesting piece of history. They were actually created before the war from a mix of various animal DNA, most from the Jackson Chameleon. Scientists played around with the DNA for a while, fed it the Forced Evolutionary Virus, and voila,” he said as he gestured. “Deathclaw.”

 

I shook my head as I marveled at the stupidity. Seriously? Just what the hell had they planned on doing with something like that in the first place? Did they think they could control them or something? Pure hubris.

 

The walk back to Sanctuary wasn’t too terribly long, and we fortunately were not waylaid that much. Just a few mutated bugs here and there, and I was actually starting to get used to them. Most people would think a mini-gun was overkill for bugs, even giant mutated ones, but hell what I would have given for a flamethrower like I’d had at one point back in the army. Now those were nice. I’d roasted camel spiders from 10 feet away, easy. I shuddered as I wondered if those things were still around, just mutated into giant version of their already giant selves. _Yuck._ Fortunately, with Preston and I heading up the party, there was nothing to fear, although I was really hoping that these Deathclaws were indeed not as common as Preston implied. I had no wish to meet another one of those suckers any time soon.

 

As we walked over the bridge that led us back to my old neighborhood, there were collective sighs of relief from everyone. Marcy was probably just happy that the place existed at all, while the others were likely eager to rest for once. As I looked out over the subdivision, there was a wistful, renewed hope within me. It felt right, leading these settlers back to my old stomping grounds, resettling the area and letting it develop into a thriving community again. _Who says that you can’t go home?_

 

“I’m glad you decided to come with us,” Preston said as he paused near the end of the bridge, shifting the weight of his gun. “I should have listened to Mama Murphy all along, this is a pretty nice place she’s found for us. I think we could really settle down here, make it a place to call home. What do you think?”

 

“Yeah,” I replied. “I used to really like living here, before the war …”

 

“What do you mean? Before what war? Are you saying …” he said before he faltered, suddenly unsure of what to say and how to ask it.

 

“I lived here, over 200 years ago,” I replied, answering the question he hadn’t been able to get out. “I was … frozen, or something, for most of it. Just woke up, actually.”

 

“Damn. Like one of those old pre-war ghouls … you said you were frozen, eh? Anybody else make it out with you?”

 

I swallowed, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall behind the power armor mask. “Only one person: my son. Someone came and took him while I was still trapped. I’ve been looking for him …”

 

“I’m sorry,” Preston replied, and I believed the sincerity in his voice. “I hope you find him. Let me know if there’s any way I can help, yeah? You’re a part of the Minutemen now, that means we help you out, too.”

 

I nodded as we went further into the neighborhood, the settlers sticking close to each other. I figured they were so spooked by everything that had happened to them - having their number dwindle from 20 to 5 - that they were just overly cautious. Good thing I’d swept the neighborhood earlier with Codsworth, the only threat lying in wait now was the dust.

 

I paused outside my old house, exiting my power armor and leaving it on the lawn as I approached the front stoop. I didn’t realize it at first, but Garvey wasn’t far behind me. “This was your house?” he asked.

 

“Yeah,” I said, almost in a whisper as I looked longingly into what was left of the place. Despite the painful memories that laid inside, I felt rather attached to it. I hadn’t really expected it to still be standing, and while it had taken quite the beating in the intervening 200 years, there was something about it that was still _mine_.

 

I think Preston must have picked up on that, as he said, “If you want, I’ll make sure everyone knows this is your place so they won’t settle in here. It can be yours again.”

 

I nodded, wiping away the solitary tear that made its way down my cheek before I turned and mustered a smile for him. “Yeah, that would be great, thanks.”

 

He nodded. “Not a problem. You let me know if you need anything else. When you’re ready, I have something I need for you to do, too.”

 

“Oh? What is it?”

 

“I’ve gotten word of a settlement that needs help. If the Minutemen are going to be rebuilt, we need to show the people that we’re here and willing to assist them. Thing is, I’m gonna have my hands full getting these people settled, so I can’t go myself, and I don’t have anyone else to send.” He licked his lips before he added, “I know you have your son to find, but if you have the time to stop by, it would be a great help, not only to the settlers but to the Minutemen as well.”

 

I nodded. “Of course, sounds simple enough.”

 

He broke into a grin. “Great. Don’t worry about it just yet, whenever you’re ready just let me know and I’ll give you the details.”

 

Preston headed off to join the rest of the settlers to help them get everything set up. It was about mid-afternoon, or somewhere around in there. I wasn’t sure exactly when I’d woken up; it seemed like ages ago, and yet it seemed like maybe an hour or two, though it couldn’t have been that short of time ago that I emerged from the Vault. So much had changed since I’d gone into the Vault, so much lost and so little gained. I now faced a nuclear wasteland, full of mutated creatures and enemies threatening the peace and safety of the people who just wanted to settle down and carve out a peaceful life for themselves … much like i had wanted to do before the war. It was all so strange and yet so familiar at the same time, similar themes and wants superimposed over some alternate universe. As I turned back to look into the depths of my old house, I thought to myself, _Is this really my life now?_


	4. Cleaning Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in updating, it's been a bitch and a half to get dialogue stuff, so I ended up needing to replay out some of this (since it's been a while since Riisa did this in game), and I just haven't had the time recently to sit down and write and game at the same time. But I finally got it done, and here we go!

I reached up to wipe my brow of sweat as I took a short break. I had been hauling junk out of the old houses in Sanctuary so we could rebuild the area. Most buildings were salvageable, though there were a few that had completely caved in and would need to be demolished completely. We ignored them for now, as the most important thing was getting everybody settled. Which meant we needed to repair the houses so it would be protected from the elements and furnish it with what we could. For now we all used the same cooking pot that Sturges had set up at the house across the street from mine, the one that he’d claimed as his own as it had a nice workshop setup in the carport that he could use. This morning, he and Preston had managed to get a water pump installed, so we at least had access to water. Running water was a luxury that was far from our reach for right now, but it was something to work towards. For now, while I hauled out junk and determined what could be used as is and what needed to be scrapped, Jun and Marcy were getting busy planting food from the resources they had carried with them all the way from Quincy.

 

It was an odd feeling, just walking into my old neighbor’s homes and going through their things. It took me a while to get over the almost sacrilegious feeling I had for going through not only a dead person’s things, but a dead person _I knew_ , but I had to get over this. When I was almost overwhelmed, my army training kicked in to push me onward, setting goals for myself and taking steps to meet them. Slowly but surely I was making some nice headway, finding a nice number of useful things intact. I even managed to scrounge up a still-comfortable plush chair for Mama Murphy. It seemed this area was largely untouched by scavengers, which meant that it saw little traffic, which was good for security purposes. We would still need to build defenses, of course, but from our position we would have a definite advantage.

 

I glanced over across the cul-de-sac, watching Codsworth bustle about, fetching tools and scrap to help Sturges. He seemed mostly back to normal, and he was more than eager to help rebuild the place. I grinned as I saw him and Sturges talking back and forth about parts to use for various projects Sturges was working on and possible substitutes if he couldn’t find what he needed. My little robot fit in perfectly with the settlers, and while a couple of them were a little stand off-ish at first, they soon recognized that he was harmless and just wanted to help. I remembered being a little apprehensive about him, too, when we first got him, but his programmed personality had soon put me at ease. I knew it was long ago, but sometimes it felt like just last week that we had brought him home. Just a few days ago that I’d had Shaun with me. Tears pricked my eyes as I settled back into my work. I needed to go find him, but I also needed a place to bring him back to. That’s why I had set apart today to get a head start on rebuilding, helping out and also preparing my own house, so that _when_ I found him - I refused to allow myself to think the word _if_ \- I could pop him right back in his crib where he belonged. With me.

 

It was early afternoon when I finally took a break for lunch, settling down next to Sturges’ workshop as I chewed on some Brahmin jerky. It was an odd taste, but it wasn’t too hard to get used to, and the dog - whom Mama Murphy had dubbed “Dogmeat” - seemed to enjoy it as well when I broke off some bits to give to him. He’d been wandering around Sanctuary, taking the opportunity to explore the surroundings since he didn’t have a specific job to do. We would be moving out in the morning, with any luck, and I would take him with me. I had considered taking Codsworth with me, as he’d offered, but between the two the robot would be more helpful to leave behind with the settlement, so I would take Dogmeat with me. A dog was always a helpful companion to have.

 

After lunch, I made my way back across the street to my own house. I needed to finish setting some things up before I left, and I wanted to make sure they were done now. Though the original rocker in Shaun’s room had dry rotted to an unusable state, I’d found a suitable replacement in another home that I dragged in. His crib was, thankfully, salvageable, I just needed to reinforce the legs. For that, I had plenty of wood, and I chopped and cut enough to nail around the base and the legs. I reached out and gingerly touched the mobile above the crib, the one that Nate had repaired just before … a tear slipped down my cheek before I even realized it, and I sat down hard in the rocking chair, covering my face with my hands as I allowed a few shuddering sobs to escape. I couldn’t afford to completely break down, but I needed to relieve the building pressure within me so I could think clearly. Dogmeat was immediately by my side, setting his front paws in my lap as he nudged away my hands and licked my face in reassurance. I smiled as I petted him and then pulled him close to me to hug him, and he didn’t protest, simply wagging his tail.

 

Once I had calmed down, I stood once again, removing the broken mobile from above the crib. Perhaps I could get Sturges to repair it, but it was low on the priority list for right now.

 

The rest of the afternoon I spent cleaning and sweeping up my house. Codsworth popped in and offered to help but I encouraged him to keep helping Sturges. He wasn’t just mine anymore, he belonged to Sanctuary. I could handle tossing junk and sweeping floors by myself. It helped that my roof was intact, and the only outer wall that was partially missing was in my room. That I could deal with easily. After I’d cleaned out the living room and kitchen/dining room area, I made a quick pass through the hallway and the laundry room, a room I wasn’t sure what I would do with just yet. For now I just tossed the junk and figured it could serve as a storage area until I decided more firmly what to do with it. The bathroom was easy enough to clear of junk, as there wasn’t much there to clear, but the scrubbing it would need … perhaps I would ask Codsworth to see to that at some point while I was gone. I had already seen to Shaun’s room the previous night, so all the remained was my own.

 

Standing in the doorway, I braced myself for the swarm of memories that overtook me. I’d slept in the living room the previous night just to avoid it, but I needed to repair the wall and if I was going to do something I might as well not do it halfway. Swallowing the tears that threatened to fall, instead feeling them settle in my throat like a lump of hot coal, I stepped further into the room, pulling out the scrap lumber that used to me my - our - bed. Once again, I set little goals for myself to meet. Pull all the scrap out. Figure out what was salvageable. Sweep. Find suitable material to patch the walls with. By the time I was scavenging through Sturges’ now sizable scrap pile, I had avoided another breakdown. How long until I could safely go about my day without compartmentalizing everything? I couldn’t even chance to think of anything else other than the goals ahead.

 

Sturges offered to help me put up the new walls, and while I initially hesitated in saying yes, I figured why make the job harder on myself. So I accepted, and soon enough we had hauled what we needed to use back into my room and were lining up the scrap wood to nail over the holes. He held it in place as I nailed it down securely, and it didn’t take long before the walls were repaired. My window had been busted out, likely due to the blast, but Sturges said he would search for a replacement for me. For now, the weather wasn’t too bad, so that could wait.

 

That evening, everyone gathered around Sturges’ porch for dinner. Mama Murphy had started a stew earlier in the day, and now it was ready for everyone. She carefully poured out equal amounts for everyone into the available bowls and handed them to Preston to distribute. We only had forks at the moment, so she’d made the stew as chunky as possible so we wouldn’t struggle too much with eating it. I mentally made a note to try to find some other silverware when I went to Diamond City, adding it to the list of supplies the settlement needed. I _needed_ these people to thrive here, and part of that was helping out and providing where I could. And since I was the only one venturing out anytime soon, it naturally fell to me to pick up some essentials, if they could be found.

 

I went to bed early that night, still staying in the living room, curled up in an extra sleeping bag Preston had given to me. Dogmeat slept at my back, keeping me warm and providing me with a sense of security. When I woke up, just before dawn, he simply rolled over and gave me a pitiful look as if to say, _Do we have to get up now?_

 

I grinned and knelt to pet him. “We gotta get on the road, Dogmeat, we have to stop by that settlement and see what they want before we go to Diamond City.”

 

He somewhat begrudgingly got up and followed me into the crisp morning air, lifting his nose to sniff the wind that was coming in. As I strolled down the street, I saw Preston on patrol, and gave him a casual salute, which he returned. On the outskirts of Sanctuary, right at the bend in the road where the Red Rocket station I’d found Dogmeat at stood, I brought up my map on the Pip-Boy, triangulating my position and where the settlement was that Garvey had wanted me to check out. It was called Tenpines Bluff, and it wasn’t too far away from Sanctuary. After a few minutes consultation, I decided it would be easier and faster to get there cross-country than sticking to a road, so I whistled to Dogmeat and set off across the wasteland.

 

I couldn’t help the disheartening feeling that overtook me as I hiked across the land, seeing the trees bare and stripped, the discarded and rusting cars and various appliances scattered about. It just seemed so _lifeless_ , and maybe if I’d grown up with it like this I wouldn’t think twice about it. But I had seen this area in its prime, all green and lush and beautiful and full of life. Now it just felt _dead_.

 

I encountered only a few mutated insects on the way to the settlement, and I was forever grateful that I hadn’t seen another one of those Deathclaws. I hadn’t taken my power armor with me, because I only had one fusion core, and I didn’t want to waste the battery on a trip to Diamond City. I didn’t know who might have taken Shaun, but I wanted to preserve that power armor just in case I needed it when I took him back. I was taking no chances.

 

The morning sun was climbing high in the sky, and it was probably around 10am or so by the time I made it to Tenpines Bluff. When Preston had said “settlement” I was expecting … well, I wasn’t completely sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t what I saw. Tenpines Bluff was nothing more than a one-room shack and a small worked field beside it that was growing some food. I was surprised to find so little there. For a named settlement, it didn’t seem like they’d done much in the way of building or expansion. Hell, I’d done more work in Sanctuary in one day than it looked like they’d done in a while. But, it was only a couple of people, so maybe they just didn’t feel expansion and building were necessary at the moment. Whatever the case, I approached the settlement, Dogmeat in tow, and walked up to the first person I saw. “‘Scuse me,” I said as I walked up, but I wasn’t able to get much more out as the settler cast his eyes over at me and his shoulders visibly drooped.

 

“What do you want? We don’t want trouble around here.”

 

My eyebrow quirked, deciding to let the insolence go. After all, being so small, it must be a struggle to survive this wasteland. Probably made one pretty touchy and on edge. And, after all, it was also likely difficult to maintain some sort of decorum in all this. I brushed it off, then, and continued, “I’m not here to cause any trouble, I’m here to help. I’m with the Minutemen.”

 

At that, the settlers eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You’re with the Minutemen? I didn’t really think you guys still existed. We sent word with one of the passing traders, but honestly I never expected anything to come of it. Most people don’t put much stock in the Minutemen these days, after Quincy. Bad business, that.”

 

I stood just slightly taller as I proclaimed, “We’re rebuilding the Minutemen from the ground up. We’re the good guys again.”

 

“Glad to hear it. No question things have been worse since the Minutemen fell the pieces.” The man shifted his weight on his feet, swiping at the sweat already beading on his forehead. “There’s a raider gang that’s been giving us trouble for weeks. Stealing food and supplies, threatening to kill us if we don’t pony up. We know where they’re coming from, but there’s no way we can go up against a gang like that.”

 

_Fucking raiders._ This was such a small settlement, I didn’t know what the hell raiders expected from them, but nevertheless they needed to be dealt with. I just hoped this wouldn’t delay me getting to Diamond City too much. I really wanted to get there and kickstart the search for Shaun, but with the way this man looked at me with such desperation and hope in his eyes, I just couldn’t ignore his pleas. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of those raiders for you.”

 

“You will? Oh, thank you, thank you so much! If you guys are for real this time, it’ll be a welcome change for the better.”

 

I brought up the map on my Pip-Boy and the settler was able to point out where the raiders were coming from. It looked like they were stationed in the abandoned Corvega assembly plant in Lexington, not too far from Tenpines Bluff, and better yet it looked like I could easily go to Diamond City after. I grinned as I bide them goodbye and set off, knowing I could easily fulfill my promise and help them and not take too much of a detour on my _real_ quest, here. It felt good, helping people like this. Not everyone was ex-military, especially from before the war, and I still had enough of the discipline and the skills leftover from my time there to put toward helping people and making some change. I didn’t know what kind of effect I might have on this wasteland overall, if my actions would even really matter in the long run, but I knew that I needed to do my best to make as good a world as I could to raise my son in, once I found him. And it seemed the Minutemen could help with that.

 

The trip to Lexington was not uneventful. I finally had my first encounter with ghouls, at Bedford Station, and had I not already faced down a Deathclaw, staring down at shriveled walking corpses as they ran toward me, knowing nothing more than they needed to rip me apart, would have shaken me to my core. As it was, while it was disturbing, I was able to shake it off as I continued down the tracks that would take me most of the way to Lexington. It was maybe an hour or so when I reached the outskirts of Lexington, being careful and cautious of my surroundings. Just because the raiders were based in the Corvega plant didn’t mean they didn’t have scouts out running around the town, scavenging and keeping an eye out. When I saw a grocery store, I decided to take a risk and go inside to see if there were any supplies worth salvaging. I walked cautiously, silently, keeping an eye out for any kind of suspicious person I might encounter.

 

What I didn’t anticipate was that my enemies here were not the raiders, not really. The raiders were a goal, sure, an enemy to Tenpines Bluff, but _getting_ to them was the real challenge, as it seemed Lexington had a ghoul infestation.

 

I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard that throaty grunt and my heart immediately started racing when I saw those shambling, withered bodies rise and start to suss out whoever was disturbing their peace. I was taken off the top of my game for just a moment as I was startled before I pointed and aimed my gun, shooting and dropping them as they neared me. Dogmeat growled and jumped at the ones who got a little too close, yanking them off their feet before going for their throat. “Good boy,” I told him as I petted his head after all the ghouls in the store were taken care of and I was free to roam and salvage what I could. As it was, I didn’t find as much as I’d wanted to, but I did find an abandoned first aid kit and a small stash of bottlecaps that I could definitely put toward buying whatever Sanctuary needed. So, definitely not a useless detour.

 

I approached slowly, cautiously from the side of the plant, keeping a lookout for any dangers out front. And, there it was, right there; a machine gun turret right out right. I couldn’t see if there were any people out there, but that turret would be a definite problem, so I aimed carefully and took it out. As I watched it explode with satisfaction, that seemed to generate a response from the raiders outside. A couple of them rashly ran down the stairs on the outside of the building, not even looking as they headed into a battle. _Idiots_. I picked them off easily before I slowly advanced, hearing shouting and the pops of gunfire shot in random directions. I took a defensive position behind a vehicle in the front of the plant and carefully picked out my next targets. They were harder to get at, and so I threw a molotov cocktail up on the roof to scatter them and draw them out so they were easier to pick off. I grinned slightly as they fell for my ploy, and I picked off one and then the other that were on the main roof.

 

Dogmeat whined as he curled his body up against mine, smart enough to stick close under cover while I took care of the threat. I was thankful this dog had some damn sense as I worked to see where the other shots were coming from that I _knew_ I heard. I wasn’t about to go inside, take care of whoever waited in there for me, and then get picked off as I exited. No Ma’am. I stuck to my position until two raiders finally revealed themselves on a ladder extension. It was gonna be a little tricky, but I took my time, aimed, and soon enough they both laid there, lifeless, and I reloaded again and crept toward the door underneath the large sign that read “Corvega”.

 

The front office area was silent, almost eerily so. I even saw a plastic Halloween pumpkin that was somehow still sitting around after it was undoubtedly set there a couple hundred years before. These small reminders of the world that was, of the life that was, were stark and stood out amongst the rubble and mess that was _everywhere_. Even the Nuka-Cola machine sitting off to the left looked almost alien, its bright colour clashing in the beige/tan/grey rubble that permeated the environment.

 

Off to my right, I heard something. If I hadn’t been paying attention, it probably would have escaped my notice completely, but I heard it, the sound of the scuff of a boot against the floor. Somebody was in this room with me.

 

I crept over to the open door, peering around it to see a raider, sitting on a box, fiddling with their ammo. I wondered briefly why they hadn’t joined the fray outside, but reasoned they likely figured their outside crew would take care of anything that came their way. They were overconfident in their position, and I could use that to my advantage. I raised my gun and fired off one round, hitting them square in the head. Blood and brain matter painted the wall behind them as they fell, and I quickly rushed over to the partially hidden area where the body was, not only to see if they had anything useful on them, but to make use of the advantage that position would give me if any other raiders came to assist their fallen friend.

 

They had a stimpack on them, plus some ammo, and I stashed them in my bag before I whirled around, drawing my weapon as I heard questioning voices sound like they came closer. I kept Dogmeat behind me, just in case anyone came to look in on the person stationed out here, but the voices and footsteps seemed to lose interest when it was only one shot that went off. Perhaps they figured their associate had accidentally fired a round. To be honest, they didn’t seem all that confident with a gun as they had been fiddling quite dangerously with it and its ammo before I’d taken them out. Maybe they would have accidentally killed themselves eventually, maybe it was a mercy I made it quick instead of them having to bleed out from a fatal wound. I didn’t believe in drawing out suffering, but in the back of my mind, I was wondering if I would make an exception for a certain bald man with a scar. Only time would tell.

 

I slowly crept toward the big set of double doors behind the reception desk, carefully opening it with my gun raised, ready to shoot as soon as I had a clear shot. It was a good thing I was prepared, too, as two raiders were standing directly on the other side. I took out one and the other went to duck for cover, but I caught him as he peeked back out to try to ascertain a target. I heard more voices, beyond the rubble in front of me that mostly blocked the way forward, and I tossed a molotov cocktail over it, hearing it burst in satisfaction and hearing somebody yell. It wasn’t fatal, but they hadn’t escaped unscathed, and that would be helpful. They would be distracted by the pain, which meant I could slip up closer to them and take them out, which is exactly what I did.

 

Beyond the last raider was a door that led to a set of stairs. More raiders were scattered in the various landings, and I took them out from behind corner cover. Half of them didn’t even see it coming, and those that did manage to get a few shots off in my direction didn’t last long. They were armed and vicious, sure, but they weren’t experienced military. Raiders were nothing more than thugs that took what they wanted and used force to bully their way in this world. They took advantage of the post-apocalyptic world they were in, and maybe it was just the way they were raised, but I couldn’t abide utterly _useless_ people like this who only lived to take advantage of others. My conscience didn’t prick at all as I moved further into the plant, killing every raider I set my eyes on.

 

As I slipped into the main assembly area, where I assumed the bulk of the gang - or, at least, its important members - were located, I really lucked out. In front of me was a control terminal for a protectron unit. I grinned as I crept forward and accessed the terminal, easily hacking it and activating the unit. I didn’t know how long he might last in a fight, but he could distract them and draw them out, which was all I really needed.

 

Sure enough, as soon as the unit came out of his housing tube, the raiders noticed, most of them yelling expletives as they rushed from their cover to address the threat they saw. The threat they didn’t see, however, was me creeping up on them and using this to my advantage, spotting raiders and raising my gun to pick them off. I almost laughed to myself as none of them even realized I was there as they were all focused on the protectron. To their credit, my little impromptu buddy held their own, drawing fire and even taking out a few on its own. I took out the two machine gun turrets on a top level, along with two raiders up there that I assumed were probably the leaders of this little raider gang. I moved to a different part of the plant, sweeping it to make sure all raiders were down, and found one last straggler who was reloading, eyes on the protectron, completely unaware that I was behind them. They may not have even heard my own gun firing, not realized that there was any other threat until my bullet buried itself into the back of their skull. They fell where they stood, mid-reload, their gun and ammo scattering on the ground.

 

Once all the raiders in the main area were taken care off, I found the stairs up to the top level where the turrets and the two assumed leader raiders were located. There was a large gap in the walkway between the stairs and the office area, a gap that closed once I pressed a nearby button to extend the walkway, and I was immensely grateful that I’d chosen to activate the protectron unit to draw fire and distract the raiders, as I was woefully unsure I could have managed to get up the stairs and wait for the walkway to extend and _survive_ long enough to take out all the raiders. Small miracle, really.

 

Dogmeat sniffed the bodies as I searched them, taking caps and ammo and leaving most everything else. In one of the office rooms, I found a large trunk that held a nice piece of leather chest armor. I hurriedly pulled it on myself, buckling and securing it. It wasn’t kevlar, but it was definitely better than nothing, and I was grateful for my find. Besides caps and ammo and some armor that I equipped on the rest of my body that wasn’t already covered, I found a nice stash of medical supplies that I gladly stuffed in my bag. Besides being helpful to me, it would be helpful to Sanctuary once I got back there. Even though it was a fairly peaceful area and there wasn’t much conflict predicted, there was still always the risk of disease and infection, especially with rebuilding. People died off the strength of small scrapes and splinters back in the day, before modern medicine, and if we weren’t careful we could end up reducing the settlement’s population even more.

 

As I cleaned out the offices, my attention was drawn to a terminal sitting at one of the desks. It not only looked intact, but it looked like it had been used recently. I tilted my head, curious. What could a raider want with a terminal? I powered it on and I didn’t even have to hack it as it immediately pulled up a log. I almost chuckled. One of the raiders had been keeping a damn diary. As I pulled up the logs, merely curious at their contents, they told an interesting tale. The leader of this group of raiders had moved into Lexington despite the threat of ghouls, settling in for some experiments of his, trying to kickstart the sight by using chems like he had seen an old woman do once. My breath caught in my throat as I realized who he was talking about. Though he didn’t name her, no doubt the old lady was Mama Murphy, the way he’d recorded her actions and her chatter was dead on. I read other entries, and it seemed he’d tried to kickstart the sight in himself, with no luck. He’d then started offering free chems to anybody to wanted some, wanting to trigger the sight in _somebody_ so he could use it to topple the other raider gangs in the area and make himself top dog. They’d resorted to trapping and even kidnapping other people, trying to find someone that could utilize the sight, with no luck. A shudder ran down my spine as I wondered how many lives had been destroyed or lost with this one man’s obsession.

 

The last entry detailed his knowledge of the arrival of a passing caravan of people, lead by a man with a hat and laser rifle and containing an old woman. Preston and his group, no doubt, and the raider _knew_ Mama Murphy was with them, without a doubt. He’d wanted to snatch her for himself. He’d tried. Fortunately, he’d failed, and he was now dead and Mama Murphy was safe in Sanctuary.

 

I shut off the terminal in disgust, more glad than ever that I’d cleaned up shop here. These disgusting excuses for human beings had performed countless tortures on who knows how many innocent people. Putting them down was like putting down a rabid dog: necessary. I had no regrets.

 

As I made my way out of the office, I heard the pop of gunfire and immediately dropped to a crouch, my eyes sweeping over the area to see what I could have missed. There, it looked like a couple of raiders had been holed up in another part of the plant and had come to see what all the commotion was about, finding their dead companions and a protectron unit active. I picked them off easily before I made my way back down the stairs and through the door to the outside. Even if there were a few more raiders scattered inside, I’d done more than enough to break them, to shatter their morale and scatter them across this wasteland that was now home, and that was enough for me.

 

I was still cautious outside, and for good reason. A few more raiders were scattered here and yon across the area that the Corvega plant consumed. Dogmeat viciously took down a raider with a bat while I took out the guns above and around us. They fell easily, even their numbers no match for me and my experience.

 

As I walked out of the Corvega plant area, I smiled, a genuine, honest-to-god smile born of nothing more than the pride of accomplishment. There may have still been ghouls scattered around, but that was all there was to worry about in Lexington anymore. The raiders were gone.

 

And now I set off for Diamond City.


	5. The Great, Green Jewel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in updating, with NaNoWriMo I didn't have the luxury of going side by side with a play through of Fallout 4 so I could nab dialogue, so I had to intentionally put this on the back burner a little bit until I had the chance to pull up the game. I swear I'm going to have to transcribe a game script one of these days so it's easier to reference.

Since I figured I could always swing by Tenpines Bluff on the way back to Sanctuary, I had immediately departed Lexington and made my way toward Diamond City. According to my map, I wasn’t too far away, and I wanted to get there as soon as possible to start the search for Shaun. I especially wanted to make it there before night fall, not wanting to camp out in the open in the wasteland. I had no qualms with camping itself, having enjoyed the activity pre-war, but camping in this wasteland was just asking for trouble. So, unless it was absolutely necessary, I would wait until I was in the safety of a settlement.

 

However, navigating this strange new world proved to make my journey that much more difficult. It wasn’t just buildings that sat in ruin, but roads and cars and random debris that blocked roads and made some completely impassable. And the routes that I did end up finding, well … they weren’t unoccupied. Raiders, sure, I had almost expected some to have set up shop. But I faced yet another threat, a threat that I had not yet seen. I wondered just when I would stop seeing new and terrifying things as I buried bullets into a large, hulking, muscular green being that was running toward me with a mini-nuke in his hand. Fuck, this new world seemed wholly nightmarish, and my heart clenched at the thought that my son was out here, somewhere in this hell. I had to get to him, I had to save him. Sanctuary was far from perfect, but it was somewhat removed from the horrors of the wasteland. Perhaps the fact that Nate and I chose the small subdivision was prophetic, in a way. It had most certainly paved the way to us landing a position in the nearby Vault … although, that had also led to this. Nate dead. Shaun kidnapped. And me, running around this godforsaken, irradiated wasteland, trying desperately to hold myself together. I prided myself in the fact that I was still going, but the fact of the matter, the fact that I avoided acknowledging, is that was only because I had a task at hand, a goal to achieve. If I didn’t have that … well, I’d probably be holed up in some shack, chugging vodka until I forgot my own name.

 

But as it stood, I _did_ have a goal, a purpose that drove me forward, and that was finding my son. As I pressed myself deeper into the Boston area, I realized that Diamond City must be located in Fenway Park. _Heh, that’s actually kind of genius._ Fenway Park was large, and if the seats were taken out it would really offer a lot of room, enough for a small city at least. And with the high walls it would offer easy, built in security. Gotta hand it to these folks, they used what they could of the broken city to piece their lives back together. I could only hope that I could do the same.

 

As I neared the area around Fenway, it seemed that Diamond City had cordoned off a small area surrounding it and installed security officers all around. Whoever had initially set this up had a military mind, it was plain to see, because the outside area of security insured that no one could move against the city without someone knowing about it and being repelled, as I’m sure that a small group of those green, muscled creatures found out for themselves as they’d attempted to set up shop in a group of buildings opposite a security outpost. _Well why not,_ I thought as I joined the fray, picking off a few beings with skillfully placed shots. My shooting instructor from boot camp would have been proud. I hadn’t been the best shot when I joined the military, but with her instruction, I came out on top of my class.

 

Once these literal monsters were taken care of, one of the security members said to me, “Damn, not afraid of mutants, eh? You’re our kind of gal.”

 

Mutants. Well, now I had a name for them. I simply tipped my head to the guard and continued following the spray-painted signs that pointed me to Diamond City, not far from it now. It was late in the evening, the sky darkening overhead, and I quickened my step. I wanted to get inside the city as quickly as possible and try to secure a bed for the night. They would have a place for that, right? Even if not, just being inside some walls would be comfort enough. I had laid my head in even less desirable places, I was sure I could manage a night on the streets if that’s what it came down to.

 

As I approached the entrance, I found it was locked down tight, and a woman in a red overcoat was outside, arguing with someone via intercom. “What do you mean you can’t open the gate? Stop playing around, Danny, I’m standing out in the open here for crying out loud!”

 

A tinny voice spilled out from over the intercom. “I got orders not to let you in, Ms. Piper. Sorry, I’m just doing my job.” Did that mean they weren’t taking in any new people anymore? Fuck, that was definitely going to put a dent in my plans, here.

 

“‘Just doing your job’? Protecting Diamond City means keeping me out, is that it? Ooo, look, it’s a scary reporter! Boo!”

 

“I’m sorry, but Mayor McDonough was really steamed, Piper, said that article you wrote was all lies. The whole city’s in a tizzy.”

 

The woman named Piper stamped her foot. “You open this gate right now, Danny Sullivan! I live here, you can’t just lock me out!” When she got no further response, she sighed and kicked a nearby rock, mumbling under her breath. As she looked up, she saw me cautiously approaching and motioned for me to come closer. “Hey, you!” she whispered. “You want in to Diamond City, right?”

 

I nodded. “Just got here, yeah.”

 

“Shh, just play along,” she said, then raising the volume of her voice so Danny on the other end of the intercom could hear her. “What was that? You’re a trader from Quincy? You have enough supplies to keep the general store stocked for a month? Huh, ya hear that, Danny? You gonna open the gate and let us in or are you going to be the one to explain to Crazy Myrna about how she lost out on all this supply?”

 

An exasperated sigh came over the intercom. “Geez, all right, no need to make it personal, Piper. Give me a minute.”

 

As I heard the mechanics on the gate start to release so it could open, Piper hissed at me, “Better head inside quick, before ol’ Danny catches on to the bluff.”

 

“Let’s go, then,” I replied, as the gate lifted.

 

“Another great day in Diamond City,” Piper said, half under her breath as she walked into what I recognized as Fenway Park. I kept close on her heels, feeling just a bit like a lost puppy.

 

We didn’t get far before an older man approached us, his features screwed up in anger. “Piper! Who let you in? I told Sullivan to keep that gate shut! You devious, rabble-rousing slanderer! The level of dishonesty in that paper of yours … I’ll have that damn printer scrapped for parts!”

 

“Libel,” I interrupted, dead-panning.

 

“What?” he said, off his game with the interruption.

 

I sighed. “If an alleged lie is spoken, it’s slander. If it’s printed, it’s libel. Maybe try getting the terms right before you go accusing someone, _Sir.”_ So this was the Mayor, then? He definitely seemed like a politician, old and pompous. His suit was immaculate, despite living in a wasteland, and he was slightly pudgy. Soft. Like he’d never held a weapon in his life. Not that I thought military experience was critical for public office, but in this world it seemed one needed to have some sort of experience basic survival in order to properly run a place. He looked like he hadn’t missed a meal his whole life, and I wondered just how much real hardship this man had seen. It certainly wasn’t enough to warrant him leading a settlement, but just as it was pre-war, that didn’t mean a person couldn’t get the job. I had an instant dislike of the man, and it wasn’t due to his lack of basic knowledge of the difference between slander and libel.

 

Piper laughed at my interjection. “Looks like I’m not the only one who’ll call you on your shit, Mayor.”

 

He regarded me for a moment, and I did my best to look intimidating. I wasn’t the tallest, but I was tall enough and I still had my muscles from my days in the military. My haircut, while it had been for fun, looked just enough on this side of punk to add to my demeanor. I had briefly considered changing it in this wasteland, maybe shaving it all off, but in the end I figured I would keep whatever might give me an edge in the intimidation department. And it looked like it did its job. Not that I took the Mayor to be a particularly brave man, but he rolled over and let his yellow belly show as he said, “Oh, I-I didn’t mean to pull you into this disagreement, Ma’am. I don’t believe I’ve seen you around before, so if this is your first visit, then welcome to the great, green jewel of the Commonwealth! Safe. Happy. A fine place to come spend your caps and settle down. Don’t let this muckraker here influence you.”

 

My eyes narrowed as I replied icily, “This hasn’t been the friendliest welcome.”

 

Piper chuckled. “She’s got ya there, McDonough. Not everyone gets won over by that shark smile of yours.”

 

McDonough coughed and redirected the conversation. “Now, was there anything in particular you came to our city for?”

 

I was not feeling the vibes I was getting from him, and I refused to share any further information with him. “Not really any of your business,” I replied, crossing my arms, Dogmeat catching the drift in my body language and flattening his ears, a slight growl in his throat.

 

“Well whatever you do,” Piper interjected, “don’t bother going to DIamond City security for help.”

 

McDonough threw his hands up in disgust. “I’ve had enough of this, Piper. From now on, consider you and that little sister of yours on notice.”

 

“Yeah, keep talking, McDonough, that’s all you’re good for,” she called after him as he turned heel and left. She threw a smirk at me and said, “Hmm, a big Diamond City welcome from the Mayor! You feel honoured yet?”

 

“Hardly,” I replied dryly, grinning.

 

She chuckled and said, “Look, I gotta go get settled back in, but, um, stop by my office later? I have an idea for an article you’d be perfect for.”

 

I nodded and started to watch her walk away when I called out, “Wait!” She turned and I asked, “Is there a place I can rent a room for the night?”

 

“Yeah, Dugout Inn. Ask for Yefim, he can hook you up.”

 

“Thanks, Piper.”

 

“Hey, I just realized … I never asked you your name.”

 

“Riisa C-just Riisa,” I replied, unable to say my last name without the threat of blinking back tears.

 

“Riisa … well, nice to meet you,” she said as she turned and walked down the narrow path that would take her into Diamond City proper. I sighed as I followed behind her, Dogmeat at my heels, wondering just what I was about to see. It wasn’t long before we passed the rusted gate in the inner entrance and climbed the stairs, and the whole of old Fenway Park and the settlement within was laid bare before me.

 

Ah, the great, green jewel. To some, it probably looked pretty impressive. To me … well, it was slightly less so. Perhaps it was just my pre-war knowledge, but it was just a bunch of roughly cobbled together buildings arranged in some vague sense of order. But, within it, there was hope. People still came and went, living out some sort of normalcy in this fucked up world. I envied them their ignorance. Maybe one day I could get back to something like that, some sort of new normal I’d forge with my son in Sanctuary. But I knew that was a long way off.

 

Thankfully, Dugout Inn wasn’t very far from the entrance. I was about to go ask around to get some direction, but as I looked around I spotted the sign. _Well that was easy enough,_ I thought as I made my way in that direction, stepping down and opening the rickety door. There were a surprising number of people milling about, probably for the sake of the bar as they indulged. I was tempted to buy some, too, but I had the folks back in Sanctuary to worry about right now, I couldn’t be spending frivolously, no matter how good it would have made me feel. I couldn’t see anyone explicitly in charge other than the man behind the bar, so I approached him as he was wiping down the cracked wooden surface. He saw me approached and flashed me a smile, “See the bar? I killed a man for it.” He laughed and then added, “I kid, I kid … he is dead, though. So what can I get for you?”

 

“Was looking to get a room for the night.”

 

“Ah, you want my brother, then, Yefim. I am Vadim. My brother is over there, he can set you up.”

 

I followed to where he was pointing. “Thank you.”

 

“Is no problem,” he replied absently as he continued with his wiping.

 

I approached his brother, similar in height and also bald. They were one of those sets of siblings that _definitely_ looked like they were related. Not quite twins, but their faces were so similar that they could potentially get easily confused for the other. He nodded at me as I neared and asked, “Need a room?”

 

“Yes, please, just for the night.”

 

“10 caps, please.”

 

I dug in my pack through my stash and found where I’d stuffed the caps, pulled out ten of them and handed them over. In exchange, Yefim pulled a key out of his pocket. “Here you go, you’re in room 2, just through the door here,” he said, nodding to indicate the door to his right.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Need anything else, don’t hesitate to ask.”

 

Room 2 was literally right through the door, the large spray-painted number taking up the middle half of the room’s door. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t as spartan as I’d thought it might be. A large coffee table sat in the middle of the room, and closest to it was a chair, ragged and worn. Across from the table was a sofa for lounging along with a couple of dressers for storing things. Next to the door was another, slightly fancier dresser that acted as an end table and a medium-sized bed, room enough for one, maybe two people if they scrunched close together. I sat my pack down on the table, rifling through its contents until I found a bottle of purified water and cracked it open. I drained about half of it immediately as Dogmeat hopped up on the bed. I was glad that he hadn’t said anything about the dog, though I supposed there were worse things to worry about in a post-apocalyptic world than whether or not people had pets in their rooms. Even though he was in a nice, well-known settlement, that didn’t guarantee a lot of income in this society, so he probably couldn’t afford to be choosey in his clientele. At least he was polite.

 

My stomach grumbled and I was tempted to go back out to the bar and get some warm food, but I had some rations with me and I wasn’t about to waste my money. I sighed as I plopped down on the chair and opened a can of pork n beans, eating half of it before setting down the rest of it for Dogmeat, which he finished off with gusto. I gave him the rest of my water before I packed everything else up, slung the bag up on the bed close to the wall, and settled onto the mattress. It had been a long day, and everything ached. Had it really been that morning that I’d been in Sanctuary? Had it really just been earlier that I’d taken out those raiders at Corvega? Somehow it seemed longer ago than that, longer still since I’d been demolishing and scavenging in my old neighborhood. A whole lifetime ago since I’d woken up. Woken up in this nightmare that I couldn’t wake up from. I curled into a ball, facing my bag, suppressing a sob as I felt Dogmeat’s comforting warmth at my back as he joined me for the night. His presence helped to ground me, reorient me. I couldn’t lose it now, my son was depending on me. I couldn’t give up yet.

 

Dogmeat was still at my back when I woke up again. From his breathing, I knew he was awake, but he continued to lie with me, guard me in my sleep. I smiled; he was a good companion. I wanted to give him a good life, too. Maybe once I found Shaun and we all went back to Sanctuary, maybe we could be a little family. Shaun could grow up with Dogmeat, his very own loyal pooch. It wasn’t a substitute for a father, not in a long shot, but it was better than nothing else. I didn’t know if I could ever give Shaun another father, my heart still hurt too much to even consider it. But between Dogmeat and the Minutemen, I figured we would be okay.

 

I roughly combed my hair before putting it back up in a shaggy ponytail and packing up. I hadn’t bothered with dressing down the night before, so I was pretty much ready to go once my feet hit the floor. Dogmeat jumped down and spun in circles, probably needing to use the restroom, and I smirked. “Ready to go, boy?” He whined in response and I grabbed my pack and opened the door, making my way through the Inn. People were just starting to stir at this hour, only a couple of patrons in the bar area, but Yefim made a point to nod at me and wish me, “Have a good day.”

 

“You, too,” I threw back at him cordially before I walked out the door, Dogmeat once again at my heels.

 

The sun was shining bright in the morning sky as I made my way back to the market area. In the middle was a large noodle stand and around that was several different shops. A medical supply shop, a barber, a general goods stand, and a couple of weapons stands. That I could definitely make use of as I sold off all the extra weapons and ammo and armor that I didn’t need. It all added up and I ended up with a nice amount of caps in the deal. With that, I was able to buy some things that the settlement needed, not anything extravagant, just some essentials like utensils and tools and the like.

 

After that was done, I got to the real reason I was in Diamond City: tracking down Shaun. I admittedly didn’t even know where to start, but I figured cozying up to one of the citizens might yield some answers. One guy in particular hocking baseball bats as weapons got my attention. “Hey, you there!” he called out, “you need a genuine, authentic, custom-made, hickory swatter.”

 

He certainly seemed charismatic, the kind that introduced himself around to everybody … the kind who might have an idea on where to go for me. I smiled at him and replied, “Not today, but, maybe you can help me in some other way.”

 

“Oh? And what would that be?” he asked.

 

I looked around real quick and stepped closer before I continued, my voice lowered, “My son’s been kidnapped. Is there anyone here that could help me?”

 

He stepped back. “Whoa, listen there. If the paper is right about the Institute, then there’s no way I’m getting involved in anyone else’s problems.”

 

I widened my eyes and pouted my lips into what Nate had always termed my puppy dog look. He’d said I looked like a kicked puppy whenever I did that and he’d never be able to say no to me. I hoped that would be the same for this guy as I said, “I’m not trying to get you in trouble, I just need a little help, please. Just point me in a direction, give me a hint, and I’ll never mention I heard it from you. It’ll be our secret. Please. My baby needs me.”

 

It looked like it did work, as his face softened at my pleas. “Fine, I’ll help you out, just this once.” He cautiously looked around before he continued, “Head to the alley behind the market, look for the neon signs … Valentine’s Detective Agency. If you’re smart, you won’t go blabbing that around, that place is mud in a lot of people’s eyes.”

 

“What’s everyone’s problem with the detective agency?” I asked, curious.

 

“Look, you ask me, Valentine is a good guy. Saved a lot of lives. But other people think he’s just going to bring the Institute’s attention.”

 

I nodded, this being not the first time I’d heard of the Institute, and probably not the last. “I’ll be careful.”

 

“See that you do. Oh, and buy something next time, yeah?”

 

I smiled and tossed a handful of caps at him in thanks. I had a nice bit to spare, and I was fine with showing gratitude for any help given while searching for my son. As he’d directed, I immediately headed around to the back of the marketplace, ducking around a roaming robot as I walked across the loose planks of wood that designated the walkway. The neon signs weren’t hard to spot, and I followed them until I reached a small offshoot of a hallway, at the end of which lay only one door: the door to the agency, the way to find my son.

 

It smelled dusty as I walked in, dusty and like stacks of paper, and no wonder for there were files stacked here and yon across the small room. A woman stood behind the desk in front of the door, her back to me as she rifled through files, muttering to herself. “Excuse me,” I said, clearing my throat.

 

“Oh, another stray coming in from the rain,” she sighed, turning around. “‘Fraid you’re too late, office is closed.”

 

Too late? It was perhaps 8:30 in the morning, at the latest. I couldn’t let this deter me. “I know you must be busy, but I won’t take much of your time, miss. It’s really important.”

 

She smiled sadly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. My name’s Ellie and I’m just the secretary around here. The detective, Nick, he’s … he’s gone missing.”

 

Great, just my luck. I finally wake up and make it to Diamond City and the one person that could help me is gone. “Do you have any idea where he’s gone? Where I could find him?”

 

“He disappeared working a case. Skinny Malone’s gang had kidnapped a young woman, and he’d tracked them down to their hideout in Park Street Station. There’s an old Vault they use down there as a base. I told Nick he was walking into a trap, but he just smiled and walked out the door like he always does.”

 

“Who’s Skinny Malone?” I asked, knowing I was about to jump in and go after this damn detective but wanting as much information as I could get.

 

She shrugged. “I don’t know much about him, but he’s from Goodneighbor, and that means he went to the well-pressed suits and machine gun school of thuggery.”

 

_Lovely_. “Goodneighbor?”

 

“Yeah, it’s a tough neighborhood, just northeast a ways. People with power there care about two things: style and body count.”

 

Well, at least I had a location and a general idea of what I’d be walking into. And I’d just re-upped on some of my own ammo. If I was going after him, this was the best time to do it. “I’ll find Nick, don’t worry.”

 

She looked relieved as she clasped her hands. “Oh, thank you! Nick should be easy to spot, he’s always wearing that old hat and trench coat getup. Please hurry if you can.”

 

“We can leave now, doesn’t sound like anything Dogmeat and I can’t handle, right boy?” He barked excitedly and wagged his tail as I moved to open the door and let him out. “Ready for another little adventure?” He whined and watched me intensely with those brown eyes, just waiting for the signal. I smiled and reached down to scratch behind his ears. “Let’s go find us a detective.”


	6. The damsel in shining (power) armor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a minute for an update! The holidays plus having no actual game script (so therefore needing to go back and redo quests for the dialogue) worked its delay magic on me. Glad to have this in before the new year, though! I have so many plans for Riisa and her journey and the people she's going to meet. I can't wait to show you guys how it's all gonna tie together. :)

Initially, I had been a bit hesitant about going all the way back to Sanctuary just to grab my power armor. But it did lighten my load a bit as I got to unload the supplies I’d gotten for the settlers. That and I’d stopped by Tenpines Bluff to let them know the raiders had been taken care of, and they were so grateful they agreed to join the Minutemen. I handed them some armor and weapons I’d picked up from the raiders and promised to send Sturges to set up some defenses for them. It was just two people out in the open, and though they had some nice crops going, they were living in a tiny little shack, pretty much just on a hope and a prayer. No wonder they had been targeted.

 

Sturges was more than happy to go build some turrets, grabbing up some junk and miscellaneous material he would need. Garvey was also very happy to hear that I’d recruited them, a bright smile alighting on his face, one that it seemed didn’t see enough of that these days. Hopefully that meant things were changing for the better. It certainly seemed to be for the settlers, at least. I could only hope I’d see a little bit of that as well.

 

After spending a little bit of the evening talking with Mama Murphy, I spent the night in my house before I set off for Park Street Station. I couldn’t lie, I was grateful for the rest, and I had a feeling I’d need it. After all, Nick Valentine wasn’t just gone for weeks for his health, he was being held against his will. Some sleep would put me back on my toes, my mind alert and my body rested and ready to take on anyone who got between me and the guy who could help me find Shaun. Before I’d retired for the night, Mama Murphy had mentioned something … odd … to me about where I was going and who I was dealing with. I tucked the random bit of information away in my brain, unsure if I would even use it, but hey, she’d been on the money about a “bright heart” in Diamond City she’d mentioned to me before I set off the first time, might as well keep it going. Keep the streak alive.

 

The next morning, I grabbed my power armor and set off across the wasteland, my target area being Boston Common. It was incredibly odd to see the city the way it was, in ruins and disrepair. It still seemed like just yesterday that everything was still bright and lively. Now it was just … dead. Lifeless. It was incredibly disheartening to be in the middle of a once bustling city and hear nothing but silence, interrupted only by the occasional spat of gunfire in the distance. Raiders, Super Mutants, who knew. Who even cared? It was hard to find that in myself. Maybe once I found Shaun I could find more hope, more positivity. For now I just trudged on toward my next goal. That was all I felt I really had to hold on to, so I was going to hold on to it as tightly as I could. For Shaun.

 

I had left Dogmeat back in Sanctuary, as I wasn’t sure what I would face in Park Street Station. I was becoming more and more protective of him, and I just couldn’t handle the thought of potentially losing him. Even him getting hurt was an incredibly vexing idea, one I did not want to see brought into reality. Besides, I was suited up with my power armor and a 10mm I had modified in my spare time, along with an assortment of explosives and a few stimpaks, so I was more than prepared to take this on alone. I cut a menacing figure as I walked down the steps into the old subway station, not even bothering with stealth, not even needing to, really. Anyone dumb enough to fuck with me wouldn’t live long enough to regret it.

 

And there were plenty of dumb fucks in the station. It was a fight as soon as I descended the first set of stairs, and I flung molotov cocktails around as I began picking some of the guys off. They were of the faux tough guy mobster variety, all muscle and no brains. Easy pickings for someone experienced like me. Their only real value was in their numbers, especially when I descended to the lower level where the train had once run. There was a nice amount of cover, however, and I utilized the hell out of it as I lobbed grenades and followed up the explosions with gunfire. Heh, they didn’t stand a chance. As I made my way deeper into the old station, following the tracks, sure enough I ran into the entrance to a vault, Vault 114. The number didn’t mean anything to me, but just like in Vault 111, it accepted the interface from my Pip-Boy and the vault door opened. They probably had another way to open it, since not everybody had a working Pip-Boy, but I wasn’t about to sit around and try to figure it out when there was an easy solution.

 

I moved with ease through the old vault, taking out the few guys that I ran into. They were few and far between, easily taken care of as I made my way through. I could only hope that I could find where they were holding this detective, but it seemed that there was only really one path to take through the vault. I did check each of the rooms I went past, just to make sure I didn’t miss him, but I hadn’t found him yet. I tried to not let this discourage me, thinking that, logically, they wouldn’t just keep him in a room close to where he could escape. If they’d done that, he would have probably left already on his own accord. I kept a sharp eye out as I moved with precision through the old, rickety hallways, the sound of my power armor thunking on the metal grated floor and echoing ever so slightly.

 

Finally, _finally_ , I entered a large, multi-level room that seemed to fit the bill as to where my detective was being held. One of the wannabe gangsters was on the top level across from me, gloating at someone through a window. I didn’t hesitate as I lifted my gun and squeezed the trigger, blood and brain matter splattering on the glass. That was going to be a lovely cleanup job. _Not for me, though_. I walked around the middle level and ascended the stairs, quickly assessing the situation. Nick Valentine was indeed on the other side, though it was hard to see him through the body fluids spread across the surface of the glass. He directed me to the terminal off to the side, advising that it wouldn’t be long before more guys would be checking up on the one I’d just dropped. The terminal password was, thankfully, tucked into the man’s pocket, so unlocking the doors was easy business once I slipped out of my power armor for just a second. The suit was just a little unwieldy to use a console with.

 

As the door opened and I stepped through, I was a little startled as the man’s appearance. He wasn’t so much a man but some sort of cybernetic creation. It looked like he’d been more … human-like … in appearance at some point, with skin and everything, but his glowing yellow eyes and gears and metal skeleton sticking through the skin around his jaw and neck and his mechanical hand were dead giveaways now. It was a testament to my durability, as this surprise barely even phased me. I’d seen far too many weird things already in this crazy future, cyborg men didn’t seem to be that much of a stretch. He was even smoking as he said, “Gotta love the irony of the reverse damsel-in-distress scenario. Question is, why did our heroine risk life and limb for an old private eye.”

 

Seemed he didn’t even want to wait until we got out to get some answers. I was thinking I might like this guy. “I need help tracking someone. The murdering bastard who shot my husband and took my son.”

 

“So, you need a little angel of vengeance, huh?” he asked as he took another drag. “Well, I don’tusually go after blood money, but I guess I can make an exception. Sorry you had to come all the way here to get to me. I’ve been holed up here the past couple of weeks. Turns out the runaway daughter I came here to find wasn’t kidnapped, she’s Skinny Malone’s new flame, and she’s got quite the mean streak. Anyway, you got problems and I’m glad to help, but right now ain’t the time. Let’s blow this joint and then we’ll talk.”

 

I was more than happy to get the fuck out of this damn vault, and Valentine seemed to know the ideal path back out, so I followed him. He recovered his own weapon from outside the room he’d been held in while I re-entered my power suit, and he even ended up helping me take out a few guys. I was surprised how well he held his own, but I supposed in this world, you either measured up or you didn’t, and if you didn’t, you didn’t make it long. It was harsh and cruel, but it was the most basic part of life: survival of the fittest. I dreaded to think what it would be like trying to raise Shaun in this world, wondered if perhaps it wasn’t better if we were still in those cryo pods, sleeping the future away, but we didn’t have that option. Not anymore. We had both been thrust into this wasteland and we would have to survive. I would just have to do the best I could with what I had.

 

I chuckled as we were ascending the third set of stairs and Valentine mumbled, “More stairs? Who built this damn vault, a fitness instructor?” Wasn’t he a robot anyway? What did it matter to him? But I kept quiet, following close behind him as we got closer and closer to the Vault entrance. As we ducked through another hallway, he told me, “Skinny Malone and the rest of his boys are waiting for us, somewhere, I’d betcha. The name’s, uh, ironic, but don’t let that fool you. He’s dangerous.”

 

I repressed the snort of laughter that threatened to make itself known. If Malone was as dangerous as the boys I’d taken out, I wouldn’t break a sweat with him. After I’d freed him, Valentine had mentioned that Malone’s gang had been muscled out of Goodneighbor. What kind of gang were they, really, if they couldn’t even stand their own ground and ran to a secure vault as a base? I rolled my eyes. If there was one thing I couldn’t abide, it was people trying to act tough who weren’t really tough at all. I figured in this world, it could be potentially dangerous to be seen as soft, but in my opinion, it was worse to try to present a tough front and fail. People needed to stick to what they did best and not just try to fit a role. Not that there were a whole lot of roles in this post-apocalyptic world, but still, best to be true to what you were rather than obviously faking it.

 

As Nick bent over to mess with the wiring to the main door, fiddling with it to make it operational, he stated, “Okay, I almost got it, but I hear big, fat footsteps on the other side of this door. Once we step through, be ready for anything.”

 

I cocked my gun, ready to fire. “Ready.”

 

He nodded as he finished the wiring job and opened the door, revealing Skinny Malone, his girlfriend, and a few of his thugs on the other side. He didn’t move to shoot, but he still held his submachine gun in his hand, his chick tapping her palm with a wooden baseball bat. Malone hefted his gun as he said, “Nicky, what’re you doin’? You come into my house, shoot up my guys, let _her_ shoot up my guys? You have any idea how much this is gonna set me back?”

 

Valentine let out a sound that sounded suspiciously like a snort of laughter. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for your two-timing dame, Skinny, you ought to tell her to write home more often.”

 

The woman smiled darkly as she spoke up, “Awww, poor little Valentine. Ashamed you got beat up by a girl? I’ll just run back home to daddy, shall I?”

 

Well she sure had a little mouth of her. I couldn’t abide disrespectful little shits and it seemed Malone’s flame had that in spades. Malone himself growled as he said, “Should’ve left it alone, Nicky. This ain’t the old neighborhood. In this vault, I’m king of the castle, capisce? And I ain’t lettin’ some private dick shut us down now that I finally got a good thing goin’!”

 

Great, nothing worse than a little person - figuratively speaking - with an inflated sense of self-worth. It was probably for the best that I was wearing a full suit of power armor, the “gangsters” couldn’t see me roll my eyes.

 

His little girlfriend spat, “I told you we should’ve just killed him, but then you had to get all sentimental! All that stupid shit about the _old times_ …”

 

“Darla, I’m handling this!” he snapped. “Skinny Malone’s always got things under control!”

 

“Oh yeah, then what’s _this guy_ doing here, huh? Valentine must’ve brought ‘im here to rub us all out!”

 

I wondered briefly who she was talking about until I realized … they couldn’t tell I was a woman under the suit of power armor. I smirked, the action hidden by my helmet, and suddenly what Mama Murphy had said to me came rushing back to me. _What was it she told me to say? Oh yeah …_ “Skinny, remember the quarry, Lily June on the rocks. Ring any bells?”

 

He looked startled, completely caught off guard. He didn’t seem to be the type of man to be thrown off like that and I took a small amount of pride in that. “How the hell did you know about that?” he asked, but then shook his head like it didn’t matter and added, “Okay, fine, you can go. You got until the count of ten, then I don’t care what happened back in the old days, you’re dead.”

 

If the sour look on her face was any indication, Darla was none too pleased with the outcome. “What are you doin', Skinny? Kill ‘em!”

 

“No, Darla, they got one chance to leave. Skinny Malone’s puttin’ his foot down.”

 

She looked miffed as she mumbled, “My mother was right. You mobsters are all just talk.” She turned on her heel and marched herself out of the vault, her head held high and her shoulders thrown back like she was the one in the right. I rolled my eyes at her little display. So dramatic and unnecessary. She was probably better off at home anyway, but if her taste in men was any indication, she wouldn’t be there for long. Oh well. Some people just never learned.

 

Skinny did make good on his promise, letting us pass, and I made a mental note to thank Mama Murphy for the strange heads up she’d given me. I didn’t know what the hell it meant, but it did to Malone and that was all that really mattered. Valentine lead me out of the vault and lead me through a service entrance to the subway, climbing up a small ladder and moving a small grate aside to allow us both access to the outside. I actually felt like I could breathe easier once we stood on the street above, even in the almost unnatural stillness that permeated the wasteland around us. It was a welcome change to the stuffiness of the vault below.

 

We both stood there, me and this strange robotic man, for a few minutes until he finally said, “So, how’d you know to find me down in that old vault?”

 

“Ellie, your secretary. She sent me. She was really worried about you.”

 

“Really? Guess I owe her a raise, then,” he said with a chuckle as he lit a cigarette. I was surprised by the action, coming from someone so obviously not human, but I shrugged it off easily as he continued, “Now, you mentioned something about tracking someone. No trace of where they’ve gone. I’d like you to come with me to my office in Diamond City and give me all the details. Besides, I think you’ve earned a chance to sit down and clear your head.”

 

Nick Valentine was an interesting character, as I found out during our walk back to Diamond City. He wasn’t a robot, strictly speaking, but something called a synth, though he said he was really some sort of prototype. He explained there were three types, usually … gen 1s were much more robot-like, basically just a skeleton of metal, the very first outing into artificial intelligence that the Institute made. Gen 2s were actually covered with a skin and were a little more advanced in their reasoning and deductive skills, along with appearing more human like. Gen 3s were an incredible advancement, as they were able to pass as completely human. Valentine was … somewhere in between the gen 2 and gen 3, with much higher cognitive functioning but still the old style of skin and skeleton. Unfortunately, since he’d been dumped from the Institute, the skin had begun to degrade over time, and he didn’t really have a solution for it. But he persevered, endearing himself to enough people in Diamond City to allow him to make a living. I had to admire that kind of tenacity, as from what he said it seemed like a lot of people either didn’t like synths or were very wary of them. Despite his appearance, though, Nick seemed pretty human to me, with his mannerisms and his values. Hell, his willingness to help people seemed rare in this post-apocalyptic wasteland, and I was very grateful that I’d encountered him.

 

It was late by the time we got back to Diamond City, as shops were closing up for the night, and I knew I wasn’t going to make it back to Sanctuary for the night. Another night at the Dugout, then, which I wasn’t opposed to as the brothers seemed friendly enough. Still, I hated to be away for long. Maybe because it was my only connection to my past, along with Shaun, and so I clung to it tightly, a hope for just a little bit of normalcy in this world. I wasn’t sure if it was considered healthy or not, but I couldn’t find it in myself to care as it provided me with the little comfort I could find in the wasteland. I took what I could get.

 

Nick stepped back into office like it was any other day, like he had just popped out for a few errands and was returning after a couple of hours. “Ellie, are you still here?” he called out, and I heard a pair of feet immediately hit the floor and come running from the back.

 

“Nick! Oh my god, you made it back okay! I was afraid you were a goner.”

 

Valentine smiled, nodding his head toward me as he said, “Not as long as I have friends to back me up.”

 

Ellie turned to me with the biggest grin on her face. I couldn’t help but smile and say, “Metal Detective Delivery, at your surface.”

 

She giggled as she commented, “Happy to be in a niche market, that’s for sure.” She reached in her skirt’s pocket as she added, “Here, I know an amount wasn’t on the table when you went out to find him, but you deserve a reward. Plus a little something extra, from me,” she said with a wink. I thanked her as I pocketed the bag of caps without bothering to count them. I hadn’t been expecting a reward, but maybe tonight I could spend a little on myself for a change. I wasn’t sure what people out here did for relaxation, but I had a little bit of an idea, and for once I was going to take advantage of the extra caps in my pack.

 

After Nick got settled back in his office and I got out of my power armor, he sat me down as Ellie pulled out a clipboard and paper to take notes for him as he asked me questions in an attempt to get to the bottom of the mystery of who took Shaun. I cracked my knuckles nervously as he started, “When you’re trying to find someone who’s gone missing, the devil is in the details. Tell me everything you can remember, no matter how … painful it might be. You never know what might prove to be an important bit of information.”

 

I nodded, a little apprehensive about spilling so much to essentially still a stranger, but my desire to find Shaun overrode any hesitation I had. “My husband, he was … he was murdered. He was trying to keep them from taking Shaun and they just …” I choked up a little, my throat threatening to close as tears teased the edges of my eyes. _No, I can’t break down, not now._

 

“It’s okay,” Ellie cooed. “You don’t have to dwell on that, just move on in the story.”

 

I nodded, blinking away the tears as I continued, “We were in a vault when it happened. Vault 111. It was some kind of cryo facility.”

 

“You were on ice, huh?” Nick commented. “More importantly, you were underground. Sealed up. That’s a lot of obstacles to get through just to take one person.”

 

“Shaun was just a baby, just six months old. I don’t know who would want him or why.”

 

“A good question, indeed. Someone would be taking on all of his care, and a child of that age needs a lot of it.” I nodded, shifting someone uncomfortably. I hadn’t weaned Shaun when we went into the vault, and over the past several days it had become … quite evident. My breasts were swollen and painful, though thankfully the vault suit accommodated their increase in size. Manufactured for the future, indeed. I had wondered if I should express my milk, to save for Shaun, but I really had no way to store it. So I dealt with the rock hard, gigantic boobs, counting myself grateful for the time I’d got to spend nursing my son. It wouldn’t end up being as long as I’d hoped, but I would always think back on it fondly. To his credit, Nick didn’t say anything more about it, simply stating, “That settles it, this wasn’t a random kidnapping. Whoever took your kid, they had an agenda. There are plenty of people who operate in kidnapping these days … raiders, gunners, super mutants … but the foremost entity I think in everyone’s mind is the Institute.”

 

The way he said it, the way he left them for last, made me think he was leaning toward them in particular. “So you think this Institute is responsible?”

 

He shrugged, shaking a cigarette loose from his pack. “Maybe. Maybe not. Easy to see why people would lean toward them, though. Those early model synths of theirs strip whole towns for parts, killing everything in their way. And, of course, rumors abound of gen 3s replacing real people for some nefarious purpose, pulling strings in the shadows. Of course, the worst thing is, nobody knows why they do it, their plans, or where they are. Not even me, and I’m a synth, myself. Well, a discarded prototype, anyway.”

 

I supposed some might not like that about Nick, but all I cared about was finding my son. “Either way, I need to find Shaun.”

 

He nodded as he lit his cigarette and took a drag. “You’re right, this speculation is getting us off track. Let’s focus on what you saw. What did these kidnappers look like?”

 

I shivered as the memory came back to me. “One of them walked right up to me. Bald head, scar across his left eye. And a dangerous, gravelly voice. I’ll never forget it.”

 

Nick sait up a little straighter in his chair at the description. “Wait, it couldn’t be … you didn’t hear the name ‘Kellogg’ at all, did you?”

 

Ellie was scrambling in the background for something in the file cabinet as I answered, “No, they never said their names.”

 

“Hmmm. It’s way too big of a coincidence.” He took another drag and flicked the ash into a dirty ashtray as he asked, “Ellie, what notes do you have about Kellogg?”

 

His secretary produced a hefty looking file and she flipped through it, looking for pertinent information. “The description matches,” she announced. “Bald head. Scar. Reputation for dangerous and precise mercenary work. Nobody knows who employs him, though.”

 

“He bought a house here in town, right? And he had a kid with him, didn’t he?”

 

I swore my heart lept into my throat as Ellie nodded. “Yeah, that’s right, the house in the west stands. The boy with him was around ten years old.”

 

As quickly as my hopes had risen, they sunk once again. “There’s no way that’s Shaun.”

 

Valentine agreed. “Yeah, big difference between an infant and a ten year old, but that doesn’t mean we’re on the wrong track. He could have a son of his own, or maybe he’s turned kidnapping into a bad habit. In any event, they both vanished just a little while back. No trace.” He put his cigarette out in the ashtray as he rose from his chair. “Let’s you and I take a little stroll over to Kellogg’s last known address, see if we can snoop out where he went.”

 

Ellie tucked away the sizable file as she commented, “Security doesn’t really go to that part of town, but you two should still be careful.”

 

“Always am, Ellie,” he said with a wink, ushering me out the door. Ellie promised to look after my power armor for me, so I walked out in just my vault suit and the little bit of armor I’d cobbled together. Part of me hoped we wouldn’t encounter the dangerous merc, freshly returned from whatever mission he’d been on, but another part of me wished he was there so I could rip him apart with my bare hands. I doubted he would be able to fend me off if I went into a rage, and I didn’t think I could or would stop myself.

 

As we stepped out into the alleyway behind the market in Diamond City, Nick said, in a low voice, “I didn’t want Ellie to hear this, but I think you should know … everything I dug up about Kellogg before his disappearance was bad news. He’s more than a mercenary, he’s a _professional_. Quick, clean, thorough. He has no enemies because they’re all dead … well, except you, of course.” I followed him up the stairs to our destination as he continued, “But nine to one odds he’s our man. It’s more than just you identifying his distinguishing features, the MO is all him as well. Leading a small team into a secure location to kidnap a baby and leaving one of the parents alive? Not many mercs in the Commonwealth can pull that off.” As we approached the only door in sight, he announced, “And here we are. Keep an eye out, will ya? Let me see if I can get this open.” I nervously looked around, palm on my gun, unsure just what I could do to look any less suspicious than I already did, but I did look around to see if there were any security in the area. Fortunately, Ellie was right on the nose and there were no guards in sight. A little bit of luck for a change. I heard Nick curse as he mumbled, “Just what are you trying to hide, Kellogg?” He stood as he said, “I can’t get it open. You wanna give it a try?”

 

I smirked. “My pleasure.” Lockpicking had been a bit of a hobby back in the day for me, and I was more than up for the challenge as I cracked my neck and knelt in front of the door, Nick covering my crouched figure as I worked at the lock. It was indeed a difficult lock, the detective hadn’t just given up, but I was determined to get this damn thing open, and after wrestling with it for a while, it finally gave way to me. “Got it!” I announced happily, jumping to my feet, a smile of triumph on me face.

 

Nick motioned. “After you.” And at that, I set my hand on the cool metal and pushed open the door, my hand on my gun just in case there was a little surprise waiting for us.

 

Either fortunately or unfortunately, all that was waiting inside was an empty abode. It was almost bare, just a desk and chair on the main level, and just a bed on an upper level. _This isn’t right, this can’t be it._ Both Nick and I roamed around the small place, turning over what we could, but finding nothing until I happened to crouch behind his desk and notice a red button. It was probably reckless to just press a random button that I didn’t know the purpose of, but I suppose the desperation drove me, and lucky for me it didn’t activate a trap. Instead, a portion of the wal slid open, exposing a small room where he apparently kept all of his supplies. There were bottles of Nuka and quite a bit of food and ammo, all of which I took to take back to the settlement. The settlers would need this more than Kellogg, and who knows if he would even return to collect at all. If I had any say in it, he would never set foot in this great green jewel.

 

Something unique did catch my eye, however … on a small side table sat a few bottles of Gwinnett stout and a package of cigars named San Francisco Sunlights. An interesting brand, not your average, every day cigarettes that most people went for. He apparently had very specific tastes.

 

I showed Nick, who agreed it was significant. “Interesting brand. Won’t lead us anywhere on its own, though.”

 

I sighed. “So what now? Any suggestions, Nick?”

 

“Hmmm. It may not be much, but it’s not a dead end. I think it’s time I call in a favour. I know a … a specialist. He’s never in one place for long, but he’ll show up if I ask.”

 

“Alright, let’s do this, then.”

 

He nodded. “Let me just send out the signal. It’s on a high frequency, above your hearing, but he’ll receive it.” True to his word, I didn’t hear a thing, but he suggested we wait outside for him to arrive.

 

I didn’t know what to expect from this specialist, but it certainly wasn’t the dog I’d found at the Red Rocket station that came loping along a few hours later. Nick seemed to be familiar with him, and I did feel good that he got the dog’s seal of approval as he wagged his tail on approach. “Good boy, Dogmeat.”

 

I just stood there, slightly incredulous. “Dogmeat, eh?” Apparently, the name that I'd thought Mama Murphy had given him was his real name after all.

 

“Yeah, this pooch has helped me out of a jam more than once. He’s a loyal hound. If anyone can track Kellogg, it’s him.”

 

I regarded him standing there, his tail wagging as he looked up at me, ready to work. The red bandana I’d put around his neck still hung there and I couldn’t help but smile. “You ready for another adventure, boy?”

 

He answered in the affirmative with a woof and a vigorous tail wag. Now how could I say no to that?


	7. Ghosts of the past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in updating lately, I've been trying to wrap up a couple of other WIP stories of mine that are close to being done (one I've finally finished, the other is getting there). This is a shorter update, but I have the script material for the next chapter so it shouldn't be as long a wait for the next one. :)

Since the sun was waning in the sky, I decided to tuck in for the night at the Dugout Inn. This Kellogg was undoubtedly dangerous, and it would be no use to go gallivanting off into the wasteland and forgoing sleep only to be exhausted and make a stupid mistake once I finally found him. I was no use to Shaun dead.

 

Despite the logic, however, there was a tight ball of nervous energy in the pit of my stomach that made it difficult to sleep. I tossed and turned for a good couple of hours before I finally drifted off into a light sleep. It wasn’t much, wasn’t what I truly needed, but it was all I was going to get for the time being so I was going to make the most of it. I didn’t dream that I could remember, and for that I was thankful. I had been afraid that a certain bald man would be leering in my subconscious, but I didn’t descend into a deep enough sleep for that. I supposed, in the grand scheme of things, I should be grateful. The prospect of meeting the man who killed Nate, who took Shaun, it was something I wanted, something I’d been desperate for ever since I came out of that damn Vault. But at the same time, I dreaded the meeting, simply because I didn’t know how it was going to play out. I was the kind of person who wanted to plan down to the last detail, and having so many unknowns on the table made me uneasy. This was necessary, though, and I would see it through.

 

The next morning, bright and early, I followed Dogmeat out of Diamond City, keeping my head on a swivel to check the surrounding area while my canine companion kept his nose to the ground. He took me on a road out of the city proper, out into the wilderness, stumbling upon other clues on the way … a cigar here, some bloody rags there. Fortunately we didn’t run into any big trouble, just some ghouls, a few wild mongrels, and some mole rats. We easily took them out before moving on, Dogmeat taking a moment to recapture the scent before getting back to it. After a while, I wondered just how far out this was taking us, as it had been hours since we left Diamond City. As he found a bloody rag that had been unceremoniously draped over a broken fence, I paused to wipe the sweat off my brow. We both took a drink, rehydrating and taking a moment to rest before we moved on, over hills and valleys, following the scent trail that would lead us to Kellogg.

 

The sun was high in the sky by the time Dogmeat sniffed around the old Fort Hagen, his tail wagging excitedly as he drew in deep sniffs from the ground and the air around him. It seemed like he was really onto the trail, and he lead me right up to the old Fort and barked. “This it, boy?” I asked, and he barked again and wagged his tail in reply before sitting, like he was finalizing his answer. I reached down to pet him. “Good boy. Thank you. Now go on, get back to Sanctuary for me, pal.” He whined, but I insisted. “Go on. Go home. Help the settlers.” He licked my hand in acquiescence before he set off down the road. I wasn’t sure what I was going to encounter in there, and I had no further wish to put him in danger. As much as I loved having him along as a companion, I just deemed it too risky. A human companion who had a gun and was a good shot, then maybe, sure. They had the mental wherewithal to make their own decisions based on information presented. Dogmeat was just a loyal dog who would follow no matter what. It just didn’t seem fair to expect so much of him.

 

The front of the old fort was completely blocked off with wooden planks, cement blocks, and various other debris. I wondered if Kellogg himself had done this or if perhaps it had been this way a while, but no matter. I would find a way in. I circled around to the back, slowly and carefully, keeping an eye out for any traps or mines. It was a good thing I was so observant, because I saw the turrets before they saw me and I was able to get off a few rounds each and disable them. They looked new-ish, which meant either Kellogg or somebody working for him had put them in. I doubted the mercenary would have been able to completely slip past them if they hadn’t been his.

 

I ascended the ramp that led me up to the roof, and from there was able to finagle around and finally find the entrance, after taking out a few more turrets. It was a metal grated door that lead to a ladder, probably some time of emergency escape hatch that had been installed back in the day. Now that the main entrance was blocked off, however, it seemed this was likely the only way I was going to get in.

 

I carefully closed the door and descended the ladder, keeping my gun close and ready should anything start to pop off. I managed to quietly drop to the floor without incident, and from there I took a moment to collect myself. My heart was racing, but I was otherwise calm, my military training taking over as I observed the immediate area. Where I was dropped down to was actually partially covered by an upturned Nuka Cola machine, so I wasn’t just out in the open for now. I took the opportunity to ensure that my gun was reloaded and that I had several magazines loaded and ready should I need them. I didn’t know what exactly I would be encountering in here, but Kellogg wasn’t stupid, and I knew it wasn’t going to be just him. That would be expecting too much to simply meet him face to face all alone. His type didn’t believe in playing fair. That was okay … I could play along just fine.

 

After I spent enough time watching, I was about to start to move, when movement out of the corner of my eye made me halt. I hadn’t seen them before, but I could still recognize that they were those gen 1 and gen 2 synths that Nick had told me about. That was the only thing they could be, after all, and I wondered if regular bullets could take them out. _Well, I’m about to find out_ , I thought as I lined up my shots on each one that I saw. I took a deep breath and let it out and then pulled the trigger, hitting and dropping each one in quick succession. _Good to know they fall like regular humans_. The gunfire had drawn a couple more of them out of a nearby area, but I dispatched them quickly and then moved on, trying to figure out my way around the place.

 

It took a little bit of recon work, but I found a set of intact stairs that led me deeper into the bowels of the fort, and I followed it. If I knew a slimy weasel like Kellogg, it was that he was going to bury himself as deep as he could. There were more gen 1 and gen 2 synths waiting, but I took my time, my patience paying off as I was able to pick them off one by one as I made my way further inside. Most didn’t even see it coming, and those that were alerted to the presence of an intruder didn’t live long enough to pinpoint me. It was almost too easy at times, and I figured with synths their real danger was their numbers. Even if they weren’t tactically smart, huge numbers could easily overwhelm a small force. I dreaded to wonder what it would have been like to actually meet a large number head on in a battle. I shuddered as I put that thought right out of my head.

 

It was as I approached a large set of metal doors, that that familiar, rough, gravelly voice sounded overhead, and I almost dropped my gun in shock. _Fucking Kellogg, of course he knows I’m here. Fuck._ I did my best to block out his voice as I pressed on, ignoring his suggestion that I turn around and forget about him, to leave him be, just let it go. I couldn’t let this go, this was personal, he’d _made_ it personal. Even if he was ultimately working for someone else, I didn’t care, he’d still been the one to do it so he would be the one to bear the brunt of my wrath. I took out turrets and traps and synths left and right as I made my way deeper, that voice ever present at times, taunting me as he narrated my descent. I didn’t care, didn’t want to hear his thoughts, his predictions of giving me 50/50 odds of even making it as far as Diamond City. Fuck him and his odds, he knew nothing about me, about my knowledge and skills and survival instincts, to speak nothing of my maternal instincts and my drive. I was like a dog with a bone and I wasn’t about to let go.

 

Finally, _finally_ , after taking out every obstacle in my path, I arrived at a metal door, obviously controlled elsewhere at a terminal, which I did not see. Just as I was about to contemplate if I was going to have to fetch an axe to chop down the wood around it, Kellogg’s voice came back on over the intercom. “Okay, you made it. I’m just up ahead. My synths are standing down. Let’s talk. I figure you’ve earned that much.”

 

_Damn right I have_ , I thought as the door swung open. I kept my gun trained ahead of me, not about to trust this man as I swung around and entered the large room that he occupied, full of old computer terminals and equipment.

 

And there he was, the man who haunted my nightmares, ol’ Kellogg himself. He stepped out from around a bank of terminals, his arms raised, though he still had his gun in hand. He smirked as he said, “And there she is, the most resilient woman in the Commonwealth.”

 

Disgust bubbled inside me. He had no right to make any assessment of me. “You murdered my husband, took my baby … you’re a dead man, Kellogg.”

 

He winced ever so slightly, barely enough to be perceptible. “Your husband, that was … a regrettable accident. Still … this world, this life … you’ve seen it. Pain. Suffering. Death is its only escape. But don’t worry, Shaun’s fine, though. Maybe a little older than you might be thinking … but I can’t give him to you, because he ain’t here.”

 

My grip on my pistol tightened as my voice dropped, dangerous and low. “Then tell me where he is. Now.”

 

He chuckled. “Well, I suppose you’ve come this far, you deserve to know … Shaun’s in a good place, where he’s safe and comfortable and loved. A place he calls home. The Institute.”

 

My blood ran cold, but outwardly I didn’t even flinch as I said, “Here. The _Institute_. Doesn’t matter. I’ll find my son no matter where he is.”

 

“Ha! That’s the spirit. You know, you surprise me. I have to admit, I find myself actually kind of liking you.” Ugh, I was going to need to take a bath just to cleanse myself of his words at this rate. “You might’ve actually been a good mother. I admire your dedication, even if it is ultimately useless. But … I think we’ve been talking long enough. We both know how this has to end. So … you ready?”

 

It was my turn to smirk as I replied, “In a hundred years, when I finally die, I only hope I go to hell so I can kill you all over again, you piece of shit.” I was much quicker on the draw than he was. Maybe it was laziness or maybe it was ego or maybe he was just suicidal, but I got off three shots square in his chest before he could even bring his gun up to aim. The synths around him started shooting, but I ducked behind some terminals and picked them off as quickly as I could. Once it was over and the dust started to settle, I made my way over to Kellogg’s body, the only thing left with any potential clues as to where my son had gone.

 

The way that Kellogg had fallen, he had busted his head against a small table behind him. As I turned him over, I saw something shiny sticking out of his skull, and I stared at it for a moment before I reached down and dug it out. It looked like a piece of flesh that was melded with tech and machinery. It was strange, unlike anything I’d seen before. I wasn’t sure what possessed me to take it, but I wrapped it in a spare bit of cloth and shoved it in my pack. I also took his gun, and a terminal password off of him before I shook my head. In my perusal of his body, it seemed that the thing in his head wasn’t the only piece of machinery, as he had cybernetics running all through him. “You were more machine than man,” I murmured as I looked over the terminal password, hoping it went to one nearby.

 

Sure enough, there was one terminal still blinking with life, and the password worked as it logged me in. There was only one log in there, one that Kellogg himself had made.

 

_ACCESS LOG_

 

_Access local login: Kellogg_

 

_Notes: The boy, Shaun, successfully delivered back to the Institute. Payment received. New orders to track down renegade. Gathered reinforcements, cleared out and secured Fort Hagen. We move out soon._

 

It was the remnants of a message, likely sent to his employers. It seemed to confirm what he’d said, that Shaun was with the Institute. He’d mentioned that Shaun was older than I’d previously thought … did that mean that the boy that Valentine had seen with him, was that Shaun? How was that possible, that boy was supposed to be around 10 years old! Had I really been under that much longer? I hadn’t thought so, but then again … I had been under for over 200 years and it seemed like nothing. An extra 10 was a drop in the bucket, in the grand scheme of things. My throat tightened as I choked up, coming to terms with the fact that not only was my son with the Institute, but that he was no longer the baby that I remembered. I had missed so much with him … his first words, his first steps. Milestones that every parent wanted to witness. It had all been stolen from me. I sat down hard on the floor next to the terminal as I wept, giving in to the turmoil of emotions, if only for the moment.

 

I couldn’t stop now, though. Just because Shaun was a full grown boy now, that didn’t mean anything, didn’t mean that I should just give up and stop. A boy still needed his mother, and I was still determined to find him. He was _mine_. And I would take him back if I had to march into hell to do so.


	8. To walk a mile in his shoes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had been wanting to get this out before Camp NaNo, as I knew I wouldn't get a chance to during it, but alas, I didn't make it. :( But, this chapter is extra long, the longest one yet, so I hope that makes up for the wait. :)

The trip back to Diamond City was shorter than the initial trip over to Fort Hagen, because now I actually knew where I was going and I wasn’t just following a jagged, roughshod trail over the wasteland. It was about mid-afternoon by the time I strode back into the old ballpark, making my way behind the marketplace and to the office of a certain metal detective. I wasn’t sure where to go from here, but I had a feeling that Nick might have an idea or two, especially since he was from the Institute, himself. Perhaps he had some insight on how to get in. Even if it was going to be difficult, if he could give me at least some rudimentary information, it would be an enormous help. And while I really wanted to go back to Sanctuary, I didn’t want to go back empty handed. I’d left them with plenty of supplies to help them along until I could get back, I could really take a few more days and they’d be fine. And this, well … this was rather damn important.

 

Just before I stepped inside the detective’s office, I heard him talking with someone else and paused with my hand on the door handle. I heard Nick’s serious tone through the door, even, as he said, “She’s my client, Piper. Why don’t you learn to not snoop on a woman’s private affairs?”

 

Ah, the reporter. Probably trying to get the scoop on me. I supposed, in this world, I was a strange oddity, and a curious soul like Piper just couldn’t resist trying to figure me out. Some might feel a bit violated, but I didn’t get a malicious vibe from her, so if anything it just amused me.

 

I pushed open the door without knocking, knowing that Nick was likely expecting me at some point anyway. As I entered, Piper smirked and remarked, “Well, well, speak of the devil …”

 

Nick turned and his eyes widened ever so slightly, perhaps not expecting me back so soon. “You’re back! And … not with your son. What happened?”

 

I sighed heavily, letting my pack fall to the floor at my feet. “Where do you want me to start? The part where Kellogg turned out to be working for the Institute? Or the part where he handed over Shaun to them?”

 

Nick swore under his breath. “I’m sorry, friend. Truly. That makes things … considerably more complicated.”

 

“He ain’t kiddin’,” Piper interjected. “Heck, Nick’s a synth and even he doesn’t know how to get in there.”

 

“No synth does,” Nick added. “Security protocols strip those memories out.”

 

_Shit. Well, there goes that idea._ I wasn’t licked yet, I just … I needed a direction, something to go on. “There’s got to be a way.”

 

Piper sighed. “I’ve been investigating these creeps for over a year, now. The Commonwealth’s boogeyman. Feared and hated by everyone.”

 

Nick snorted. “True enough.”

 

Piper continued, undeterred. “There’s a lot of theories floating around out there, about who they are, where they came from. Some say they started right here in the Commonwealth, from the remnants of the CIT. Others say they were transplants from the Capital Wasteland. Whoever they are and wherever they came from, they sure do like to leave a presence. Old synths of theirs strip whole towns for parts, and kill anyone that comes across them or tries to stop them. There’s one thing that everyone agrees on, and ironically it’s the one thing we all _don’t_ know: where it is, or how to get in.”

 

Nick lit up a cigarette, and as he blew out the first puff of smoke, he contributed, “I bet you Kellogg knew. Man like that, working for them, bet he would have had access in and out.”

 

I huffed half a chuckle. “Whatever you’re thinking, it doesn’t matter. He’s dead.”

 

Nick took another drag from his cigarette and flicked the ashes. “Yeah, figures the Institute’s only man on the outside wouldn’t be the type to be taken alive.”

 

Piper chuckled darkly. “So, a murderer and a kidnapper gets his brains blown out by an avenging parent.” She sighed, shifting her weight on another leg. “It’d be a great ending if we didn’t still have the biggest mystery in the Commonwealth to solve.”

 

My hand tightened into a fist as my jaw set, remembering my conversation with Kellogg, the rage starting to boil just under the surface again. “Doesn’t matter what he knew. I’d kill him again in a heartbeat.” Truly, he deserved no less.

 

Something I said seemed to trigger something in Nick, however, as the detective took another drag from his cigarette. “‘Get his brains blown out’ … huh. His brains. You know, we may not need the man at all.”

 

Piper looked decidedly uncomfortable with this line of thinking, even if she didn’t quite know where it was leading, yet. “You’re talking weird here, Nick. Got a fault in the old subroutines?”

 

Nick ignored her for the time being, addressing me. “Look, there’s a place in Goodneighbor called the Memory Den. Lets you relive past moments in your mind as clear as the day they happened. Doctor Amari there is a wiz when it comes to the mind. Believe me, if anyone could get a dead brain to talk, it’d be her.”

 

It was a strange idea, but hell, it was an idea, and it was a damn sight more than we’d had just a few minutes ago. “I hope you’re right, Nick.”

 

The synth detective stamped out the cigarette butt into a nearby ashtray. “We’re just going to need a piece of Kellogg’s brain, enough grey matter to bring to Amari and find out if this is even going to work.”

 

Piper visibly cringed. “Jesus, Nick. Gross! Seriously?”

 

“I know it’s grisly, but what choice do we have? We got no leads, nothing. That old merc’s brain just might have all the secrets we need to know.”

 

Something about what he’d said had sparked something in me, and I dug around in my pack until I pulled out the strange piece of machinery that Kellogg’d had attached to his head. “I think I might already have something. Kellogg had this … thing attached to his head. I don’t know why I took it, but … maybe it’ll help?”

 

Valentine smirked as he held it up to the light. “Cybernetics, eh? We may have just won the lottery.”

 

Piper looked quite put off by the whole thing and shuddered as I wrapped the piece back up in the cloth. “Whether we’re riding this crazy brain train or not, we can’t all go running across the Commonwealth. So, who’s coming with you?”

 

“I have to go to the Memory Den either way, if I’m gonna introduce you to Amari. But if you wanna head there together, just say so.”

 

Looking between the two of them, I knew immediately who I was going to pick. Piper was sweet and obviously capable of surviving this place, but I had a feeling she was wanting to needle my brain and interview me on the way, and I just didn’t quite feel up to that. I wasn’t opposed to talking to her, just … not at the moment. Maybe when things didn’t feel quite so raw, so unstable, I’d open up. “If you’re going anyway, Nick, I might as well go with you.”

 

He nodded. “Did you want to leave now, or wait until tomorrow?”

 

I gave it some thought. I was exhausted, yes, but I felt like I was close to a breakthrough, and I didn’t think I could quite sleep on that. “Might as well leave now. No reason to wait, right?”

 

He grinned. “Absolutely. Goodneighbor’s a short enough walk from here, we’ll be there before evening.”

 

As we went to leave, Piper spoke up. “By the way, at some point, you owe me an interview.” She shot me a smile as she added, “I want to hear how this whole story began.”

 

I promised her I would stop by at some point, and she seemed pleased with my promise as she breezed past us. Nick and I kept walking, out of the city, side by side, Vault dweller and synth detective. As we passed the outer defenses, Nick assured me, “Don’t worry. We’re gonna get your boy back. Just a few more steps.”

 

I hoped he was right.

 

Nick knew all the ins and outs of the area, and so he lead me to the quickest and safest path to Goodneighbor. There were packs of raiders and super mutants all over the city, and undoubtedly I would have blindly stumbled upon them if not for my new companion. Not that I couldn’t have taken care of them, but … well, it wouldn’t do to just go expending ammunition unnecessarily. I wasn’t sure what exactly it was going to take to extract Shaun from the Institute just yet. Who knew, every bullet could be precious. Of course, after further inspection, I had switched out my usual 10mm in favour of Kellogg’s .44. Maybe it was the poetic justice that made me lean toward using it or maybe it was because the bull barreled gun reminded me of one my own father owned back in the day. He’d always said he would have passed it on to me whenever he died, but well … that obviously never happened. Who knew what had happened to the old relic in the intervening centuries. I supposed, considering the circumstances, this would do. This gun that had dealt so much damage to so many people, in my hands it could help, instead. Defend settlers against raiders, gun down feral ghouls and other creatures nesting in ideal locations for new settlements … rescue the child that it had previously had a hand in taking. Yes, this was my gun, now.

 

Goodneighbor was a little walled-in settlement northeast of Diamond City, and it made no attempts for any kind of squeaky clean image like the settlement we’d just been in. I kept my hand close to my gun and my eyes were constantly sweeping around me, taking notice of everyone and everything and making sure they kept a good distance from us as we stalked through the town, going down one alley and then walking across a little town square type of set up before Nick led me into the Memory Den. A neon sign denoted the shop, and I couldn’t guess the building’s original function like I could others, but I supposed that didn’t matter now. Nick waved to the middle-aged woman lounging on a fainting couch before heading down some stairs. I gave her a nod as I passed, and she made no attempt to stop me since she saw that I was with Nick. I only hoped this lead would actually give us something instead of ending up being a wild goose chase.

 

Doctor Amari cut quite the figure with her dark skin and contrasting white lab coat. Her dark hair was pulled back into a no-nonsense bun, and even though she was at least in her mid-40’s she still was quite pretty. Wasteland living obviously wasn’t wearing her down as much as it did some, aging them prematurely. Instead, quite the opposite. I could only guess at her age because she looked ageless, timeless, like she was someone who had just always been here and would always be here. She reminded me of one of my medic friends in the army, Miranda Pierce, and maybe it was that fact that immediately endeared her to me. She seemed a bit surprised to see Nick, but not angry that he’d brought a stranger with him. That was a good sign, as I stepped forward to ask her for help after Nick had introduced us. “It’s nice to meet you, doc. We really need your help. I need some memories from a guy named Kellogg but trouble is … he’s dead.”

 

She raised her eyebrows as she exclaimed, “Are you joking with me?”

 

Nick cut in, “I know it’s asking for a miracle, Amari, but you’ve pulled off the impossible before.”

 

She shook her head, her lightly accented voice still soft. “You two must be mad. Putting aside the fact that you’re asking me to defile a corpse, you do realize that the memory simulators require intact, _living_ brains to function?”

 

“Please,” I begged. “Nick told me you’re the only one who could make this work.” There had to be _some_ way … right?

 

Valentine once again reiterated our request, fleshing out some details for her that I’m sure he hoped would seal the deal. He was much better with words than I was, thankfully. “This dead brain had inside knowledge of the Institute, Amari. The biggest scientific secret of the Commonwealth. You need this, and so do we.”

 

She sighed as she relented. “Fine, I’ll take a look, but no guarantees. Do you … have it with you?”

 

That was my cue to reach into my pack and retrieve the curious cybernetic device that I’d found on Kellogg. I had kept it carefully wrapped so it wouldn’t get damaged on its journey all the way from Fort Hagen, and sure enough it looked the same as when I’d pulled it off of the dead man himself. I still wasn’t quite sure what possessed me to do that, but right now I was grateful that I’d heeded my gut feeling, as it had saved me the trip of going all the way back to Fort Hagen and into the bowels of the fortress to retrieve it. That would have set me even further behind than I already was, and as it stood I didn’t think I could really handle that level of a morale hit. I just had to cross my fingers and hope it actually paid off. “Here’s what I could find,” I said as I handed it over to her.

 

“What’s this?” she asked as she took it. “This isn’t a brain! This is … wait … that’s the hippocampus! And this thing attached to it … a neural interface?”

 

“Those circuits look awfully familiar …” Nick mumbled, shifting as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

 

Amari nodded. “I’m not surprised. From what I’ve seen, all Institute technology has a similar architecture.”

 

Science was not exactly my forte. While I knew enough first aid to take care of myself and the others in my unit, should such a circumstance warrant, I wasn’t on the up and up as far as the in-depth science part of the medical field went. “So … the brain is still good, right?” I asked hopefully.

 

The good doctor smiled. “Possibly. There’s no sign of decay, so that means the tech is probably preserving the tissue, injecting some kind of compound to keep it stable. But …” her smile fell somewhat, “… there’s no way to access the memories inside without a compatible port.”

 

Nick chimed in with a suggestion. “What about me, doc? I’m an old synth. If the Institute built me out of similar parts, we might have an in.”

 

“There … could be long-term side effects. I don’t know where to even begin with listing the risks …”

 

Valentine brushed aside her concern. “Don’t bother, I don’t need to hear them. Just plug me in.”

 

I couldn’t lie, this prospect … it scared me. Nick was one of the few people I’d met in the Commonwealth so far that seemed legitimately _good_ , who did things for others simply because it was the right thing to do. Even though we hadn’t known each other for very long, I considered him my friend, and in this place it seemed good friends were hard to come by. So, despite the risk of Diamond City losing its detective, I worried more that I might lose a friend. But from the way his jaw was set and the look of determination in his eyes, I knew there was no way to dissuade him. This was who he was, he wasn’t going to tuck tail and run just because there was a risk to him. I murmured quietly, “Thank you, Nick.”

 

He just flashed me his signature smile as he sat in the chair that Doctor Amari directed him to. She removed his hat and pulled up a flap of skin at the back of his head before she started tinkering around, inserting the cybernetic device and making some adjustments. “How is it, Nick?” she asked.

 

“There’s a lot of … flashes … static … I can’t make sense of any of it.”

 

Amari sighed. “It appears the Institute has one last fail safe. It looks like there’s a lock on the memories in the implant.”

 

_Ugh, no! We’re so close!_ “How do you even lock memories?”

 

“The implant is encoding all the mnemonic activity in the hippocampus. Think of it like a computer encryption. An encryption we don’t have the password for.”

 

_Fuck_. “Isn’t there any way around it, doc?”

 

She tapped her chin thoughtfully as she talked it out. “Let’s see … a single mind wouldn’t be able to crack it, certainly, not even a synth brain. But what if we used _two_?” Her face brightened as she seemed to stumble upon an idea. “We could load both you and Nick into the memory loungers, and then run your cognitive functions in parallel! He can act as a host while your subconscious drives through whatever memories we can find.”

 

This whole plan seemed like it was getting crazier by the minute. But if this was the only way to get the Shaun, you bet your ass I was going to do it. “All right, let’s do it.”

 

She motioned to one of the loungers nearby. “Just sit down over there and … keep your fingers crossed.”

 

Nick rose from his seat to enter the other memory simulator, tipping his hat as he said, “See you on the other side.”

 

I certainly hoped I would.

 

I laid back in the lounger and got as comfortable as I could, shifting slightly and taking a deep breath to calm my nerves. Just because I was ready and willing to do this didn’t mean that the whole prospect didn’t freak me out. Personally accessing that merc’s memories while piggybacking on my friend wasn’t exactly an ideal prospect, but again it was the only lead we had, and we had to take what little we could get. I just hoped this actually paid off, that the memories I was about to witness were intact enough to give us some sort of clue about where the Institute was and how we could get in. For all the pain and heartache he’d caused me, Kellogg owed me this. I just hoped he paid up.

 

After Nick was well adjusted in his lounger, Amari started flipping switches, narrating what she was doing for our benefit. “Initiating brain-wave migration between the transplant and the host. I’m going to load you into the strongest memories we can find. They might not be … stable … just hold on.”

 

The next sensation was one of the strangest I’d ever experienced. It wasn’t like falling asleep, exactly, it was more like I was pulled from one consciousness to the next. I cognitively knew that my own body wasn’t conscious, but my mind was fully awake. And instead of taking in input from the physical environment around me, my mind was feeding off of the input it was given in the lounger. I felt a bit off-balance, especially because at the moment it seemed I was just floating in some inky abyss, flashing lights going off all around me. It took me a moment to realize that those flashes were the neurons still somehow firing in Kellogg’s brain, even though their original host was long dead. Despite the devastation of a complete nuclear apocalypse, science had still managed to make some interesting strides in the meantime. What was that saying … life finds a way? It seemed science did as well.

 

I could still hear Amari, though it wasn’t from any particular direction. Instead, it seemed like her voice was all around me, echoing slightly as she spoke. “Can you hear me?” Even though I didn’t answer, she seemed to know that I could as she added, “Ah, good. The simulation appears to be working, although the memories are quite fragmentary. I’ll try to step you through the intact ones and hope we find one that gives us some clue as to the Institute’s location …” She paused a moment, as if she was searching, and after that moment I saw a path open up in front of me. “… There. This is the earliest intact memory I can find.”

 

Even though I didn’t feel like I had a physical body, I could feel myself propelled down the open path, walking along it until I found myself in a bleak-looking, run-down room. Faded posters decorated the walls and a boy, no older than 12, sat on the bed, a woman by his side that I would have pegged as his mother. The radio on a nearby dresser was on, and it seemed they were listening to it as well as reading whatever they had in their laps. The utterly unfamiliar voice on the radio announced, “And that makes it official, folks. The final vote count from the Hub is in: 55% in favour of joining the New California Republic.”

 

I didn’t know what the fuck the _New California Republic_ was, but I wagered a guess it was some sort of coalition formed after the war. It seemed someone else either wasn’t pleased by the news or by the noise in general, as a rough, male voice sounded from beyond the door, “Turn down that goddamn radio! I’m trying to sleep!”

 

Even though I didn’t know who it was, the voice sent shivers down my spine. For a moment, I was genuinely in fear for my life, reaching for a gun that wasn’t there to ready it in case I needed to use it. It all just felt so _real_. Doctor Amari’s voice cut through the confusion and the momentary fear. “Remember, you are experiencing these memories as Kellogg. This may prove disorienting at first, but remember that no matter what you see, you are not in any real danger.”

 

I relaxed a little more at that, looking around the room before I approached the woman and the boy. I noticed then a gun by the woman that she then placed on the bed, close to the boy. I wondered what the gesture meant, and as I reached out to touch her, I heard Kellogg’s voice in my head as clear as day. “I think now she wanted me to kill him. I should have. Instead I ended up running away … I told myself I wanted to find somewhere out from under the thumb of the NCR and all their rules. But really, I was running from the guilt of not protecting her from Dad. Doesn’t matter now, though.”

 

For some reason, even though I knew I was in Kellogg’s memories, I hadn’t connected the fact that _he_ was the boy on the bed that I was seeing. I had never given much thought about him, the fact that he was a real person who had a life of his own. For so long he’d simply been a nightmare to me, and when I gunned him down it was simply the natural end result that I’d foreseen. But here it was, right in front of me, undeniable proof that despite his actions, he was just another person struggling to survive in this crazy, fucked up world. I quickly dismissed any sympathy, however. So what, he had a shitty childhood. Lots of people had shitty childhoods, that didn’t excuse him for killing an innocent man and taking a baby. _Fuck him_.

 

Doctor Amari once again broke through my own musings. “This doesn’t quite seem to be what we’re looking for.” The scene before me went black once again as I assumed she was searching for something else to lead me to. Another path opened up to my right as she said, “There appears to be another intact memory close to you in temporal sequence.” I didn’t need any further motivation to follow the path I saw and soon I found myself in yet another run-down room, though this was much different from the last. Instead of a young boy and his mother, there was a man and his significant other, both occupied in what looked like a kitchen area.

 

There was no hesitation in me anymore as I reached out and tapped the man on the shoulder, triggering the memory. Kellogg’s voice once more wrapped itself around me, like an unwanted, scratchy blanket. “I was the worst thing that ever happened to her. The thing about happiness is that you only know you had it when it’s gone. I mean, you may think to yourself that you’re happy. But you don’t really believe it. You focus on the petty bullshit, the next job, or whatever. It’s only looking back, by comparison with what comes after, that you really understand that’s what happiness felt like.”

 

As he’d talked, I had wandered around the small area, and as he made his own musings on happiness, I’d stopped dead in my tracks as I saw a crib. After a moment’s hesitation, I walked over to it, looking down to see a happy, squirming infant inside, no more than maybe four months old. She had her little fists balled in front of her, swinging them as she cooed and made those weird grunting noises that babies made before they started babbling. Even though it made no sense, a name popped into my head, like it was put there as it filled in the gaps … _Mary_ … was this Kellogg’s child? I looked back to the man, and while he was much younger than the man I’d killed, I could see a definite resemblance. The fact that he had hair was what had really thrown me off and made me not recognize him immediately, but now it was unmistakable. The jagged lines of his face, the carve of his nose, the cut of his jaw, there was no mistaking him for anyone else. Kellogg, he’d … he’d had a family. When was this? There was no telling exactly how recent this was, and while Kellogg was obviously much younger, it triggered so many questions within me. Where was this? _When_ was this? Was this really his … his _family_? Kellogg had never struck me as the kind of guy to stick with a woman after he’d knocked her up, living some sort of domestic life with a wife and kid. It was strange and ran in such sharp contrast to what I knew of the mercenary I’d met at Fort Hagen. Of course, the most important question on my mind was … _What happened to them?_

 

The scene once again went dark as Doctor Amari shuttled me along, opening another path on the other side of the crib. “Let’s keep looking … I’ll connect you to the next intact memory.”

 

I followed the path obediently, finding myself in a long hallway, the younger Kellogg standing in front of me, holding a rifle in his hands. He was stalking somebody, by the look of his swagger, and it seemed that whoever he was hunting was aware of his presence as another unfamiliar voice sounded through some sort of intercom. “You thought you could just fuck with us and we wouldn’t fuck with you? Just so you know … they died like dogs. And you weren’t there to help them.” The Kellogg in front of me practically _growled_ as he kicked open a door and raised his rifle, disappearing on the other side. I just stood there, floored, one question answered but a million more popping through my head …

 

Kellogg’d had a family. Not only that, but they were killed, taken from me in an eerily familiar way that my own family was taken from me. Granted, it seemed that his child was killed and not simply kidnapped, but all the same I felt a strange sense of deja vu. This Kellogg that I was now getting to know … he was so much more complex than I’d even guessed. Despite a rough start in life, he’d tried to settle down, be a family man, not just live to ruin other lives. And all of that had been taken from him, in a weirdly similar way that it had been taken from me. I shuddered as I considered … could I potentially turn out like Kellogg? Hardened beyond remorse, killing and conniving simply for money? If I’d considered it before this, I would have immediately rejected the thought as ridiculous nonsense. But seeing his past play out before me, it gave me pause to think … we weren’t as different as I’d first thought. We’d lost so much, given up so much, and yet … no, I couldn’t be like him. I wouldn’t allow myself to be. Shaun was still out there, waiting for me. I couldn’t fail him. If I didn’t have him to look forward to, if that motivation didn’t exist … I refused to dwell on it any longer. The past was over and done with. Kellogg’s family was dead, and now he was dead along with them and my husband. There was no use dwelling on the what ifs, not when I had a certainty to strive for, reuniting with my son. This was my sole purpose now, and nothing and no one would stand in my way.

 

As the current memory darkened, another path opened up and Amari announced, “I’ve found another memory to try. I’ll connect you.”

 

The next one was, almost predictably, set in a seedy looking bar. I recognized the younger Kellogg sitting at a table, and saw a couple of patrons start to approach him. I could guess what was about to happen next … this was where his life as a mercenary was about to begin. I tapped him on the shoulder and heard him start talking as the image of his younger self started to take a long swig from a dark bottle. “There was always a job for someone like me. It didn’t matter what it was. It didn’t matter who I was supposed to kill. I got pretty good at it.” Yep, predictable. Without a motivation like mine, he’d lapsed into crime and murder, simply unable to give a fuck anymore. If Shaun had died instead of simply being kidnapped, could I have turned out a similar way? I would like to think that, despite that kind of tragedy, I would remain as similar to myself as possible, still kind and willing to offer a helping hand to those who needed it. It was a part of the very core of my being. Even being in the army was weird for me, and I’d done it more because I was a military brat and it was expected of me rather than it being something that I actually wanted to do. Of course, i met Nate, and my GI bill was pretty nice, so I’d never complained. Once Shaun had grown up a little more, I had been thinking of maybe going back to school and starting a career, maybe something in social work, a field I had always felt drawn to. It was just in my nature to help … just as it seemed it was in Kellogg’s nature to kill. Despite our striking similarities, we were two completely different people, and although this expedition was eye-opening it only showed me things that I could have already guessed at … there was just something rotten in Kellogg’s core, something off, something he didn’t possess that I did. Empathy. It may seem simple, but it made a world of difference in our approach to our respective tragedies. He’d gone off and become a murdering mercenary. And me, despite my drive for revenge, made time to help others along the way.

 

As the scene darkened, Amari was already pulling up another path for me. “Well, we seem to be getting closer. Try this next one.”

 

The next scene took place in what looked like a bombed out office building. An uptight looking woman with glasses sat behind a desk, and around her were several gen 1 synths. Kellogg stood in front of the desk, holding a cigarette in his hand as he casually smoked through their meeting. I tapped him as I entered the room, wanting to trigger the memory and just get it over with. “I finally ended up in the Commonwealth. I kind of ran out of road, plus I’d come to terms with life. I wasn’t going to be stupid enough to get mixed up with caring about other people again. It was just me against the world … and the world had it coming.” I rolled my eyes. It was a rather pessimistic outlook on life. It was yet another divergence between us, as even though the grief was still fresh for me, I couldn’t see myself adopting that kind of attitude, even if Shaun was dead. I watched on as the woman - a scientist from the Institute - offered him a steady job with them, and he took them up on the offer. So this was where their partnership had begun, then.

 

Once again, everything darkened as another path lit up behind me. “Getting warmer. One of these has got to tell us something. We’re starting to run out of brain here, but there’s another one here that looks mostly intact.”

 

I nonchalantly strolled down the path - if strolling was even possible in whatever reality I currently occupied - but I immediately froze when I saw the scene before me. Chills ran through my body as I immediately recognized Vault 111. Instead of bustling with Vault-tec employees and Vault dwellers as it had entered, and also utterly abandoned when I’d left, there was a scientist and a very familiar figure in front of me. The scientist was typing something on a computer in front of them, safely concealed and protected within their hazmat suit as Kellogg walked around in a similar garb that I’d found and killed him in. Even though I wasn’t in my physical body at the moment, I could almost _feel_ my mouth go dry and my palms start to start to sweat at the sight before me. _This is it. This is where Nate dies. Oh fuck, can I even go through with this memory?_ I felt myself tremble in anticipation and anxiety, and though everything in me screamed at me to run for the hills, I knew I had to stand here and watch the scene unfold. Shaun depended on me doing it. I _had_ to. So, even though I could feel myself breaking into a cold sweat, I tapped Kellogg and let the memory play.

 

His cold, rough voice felt like it practically cut through me as he said, “The eggheads never liked taking orders from a dirty contaminated degenerate like me … but topside, I was the boss, and what I said was law. They knew better than to question it or me.” Sure enough, once the scientist had located whatever information they’d been looking for, they walked down the row of cryo cells, stopping in front of one very familiar one on the far end. Across from it, I could even see myself coughing and coming to, trying to open the door and failing. It was one of the strangest things I’d witnessed yet, and I’d been witness to plenty, but I couldn’t bear actually watching this unfold again. I turned my back as I heard Nate’s cryo pod open, heard him coughing as he recovered from the unexpected cryo sleep. Despite the disconnect from my physical body, I still felt the tears well in my eyes as I heard Nate protest, struggle against the scientist, refuse to give in to Kellogg despite the gun in his face. I jumped as the gun fired once more, shuddering as Shaun’s cries filled my ears. Out of all the memories of Kellogg’s to live through, why did it have to be this one?

 

Finally everything around me darkened once more, and I practically fled out onto the forming pathway, even though it was still lighting up underneath me. Amari’s voice was quiet as soft as she murmured, “I’m sorry you had to go through that again. The next memory is right around the corner, so to speak, and I’m hoping it may contain what we need to know.”

 

I landed hard in the next room, and this time it was actually familiar. It was the room that Nick and I had broken into in Diamond City, the small residence he’d taken up for a short time. Instead of being empty, though, Kellogg sat in a corner, cleaning the gun that I now carried. I froze once again as, on the floor, I saw a boy who could only be my Shaun. Sure enough, just as Nick had said, he looked to be about 10, and he had my natural ash blond hair and light smattering of freckles across his nose and cheeks. I could have mistaken him for no one else … he was my son, that I knew for sure. I didn’t even follow whatever Kellogg was saying as I simply stood in awe of my boy, in awe of the life that _I_ had created. I felt tears well in my eyes once again, but for a different reason. He was such a grown little man now, much more than just a boy. Even though there was an air of innocence, I could tell by the way he read an old mechanics magazine that he was smart, smart as a whip, just like his father. A burst of pride grew in my chest to see him, even in such an innocuous setting. He was the best parts of myself and his father, of that I was certain. Suddenly, with little warning, a tall man appeared, his skin almost as dark as his coat and his hair cut close to his head. Shades hid even his eyes from view as he stood there, silent and calm despite the fact that Kellogg had pulled a gun on him. After the momentary rush of confusion at the appearance of someone in the room, Kellogg relaxed and chatted with him. It seemed the man was a representative from the Institute, here to give Kellogg another assignment, to hunt down a scientist that had gone rogue. Of course, since he now had a job to do, the man was taking Shaun back to the Institute with him. It tore me up inside to hear my son bid Kellogg goodbye, as if he was a babysitter or an Uncle rather than his father’s killer. Obviously they’d kept the truth from him, and an slow burning anger started to flare in the pit of my stomach.

 

Hell hath no fury and all that.

 

As Shaun took his place by the man’s side, they were suddenly surrounded in a bright, white light, and a second later they had disappeared. I mentally blinked several times to make sure that what my mind had witnessed what I thought it did, and it did indeed appear to be so. The institute somehow had the ability to _teleport_. Groovy. And ingenious, besides. Who would have ever suspected that there wasn’t a physical way into the Institute? No wonder they had remained hidden and secret for so long. This whole time, everyone who had even tried to figure out their secrets had been looking for a _physical_ entrance to a facility, when in reality the only way in and out was not one of physical means. I would have been impressed if they weren’t the ones behind Nate’s murder and Shaun’s kidnapping. Instead, it pissed me off and left me frustrated. How was I supposed to get to Shaun now?

 

The last viable memory darkened and I noticed then that the TV screen seemed to _glow_. Stepping toward it, I was suddenly engulfed in light, weightless and hovering, waiting … waiting to wake up, back in my body.

 

It was not the most pleasant sensation.

 

Initially, I struggled to even take a breath, and that caused me to panic. My arms flailing, I pushed myself out of the memory lounger and felt the cool, hard floor beneath my hands as I worked to get my lungs to take in air again. I felt dizzy and light headed, and like a long, hot ice pick had been shoved into my head and left on vibrate. Even though it wasn’t quite a physical sensation, I still felt it as if it was a ghost, like it had just happened and had left these painful sensations in its wake. I groaned as I lifted a hand to my head, cradling my forehead as I came to grip with consciousness once more.

 

Doctor Amari’s soothing, lightly accented voice was right by me, and I felt hands grip my shoulders as she helped to physically steady me. “Slow movements, okay? I don’t know what kind of side effects that procedure might have had. No one’s ever done this kind of thing before.”

 

“I have this … burning feeling inside my skull. It’s like it’s on fire …”

 

Amari chuckled softly. “That’s not surprising. All the synapses in your brain have just been pulled apart, connected to someone else, and then pulled back together.”

 

_Lovely_.

 

“I injected you with a large stimpak while I was pulling you out, that should ease things,” she added, helping me to my feet. “Are you … ready to talk about what happened in there?”

 

Already, everything I’d just seen seemed like it happened so long ago, a lifetime ago. All of those foreign memories and sensations were still processing, in a way, but the most important facts were sticking out in my mind like a beacon. “We got what we needed. The Institute uses teleportation to get in and out.”

 

“But that only leads to more questions. How does it work? Where do we go next?”

 

More answers only lead to more questions, but I had a feeling there was at least one person topside who could answer them. “That rogue scientist they send Kellogg after, Virgil. If he’s still alive, I bet you he knows how to help me.”

 

Amari’s brows furrowed. “But the memory said the Institute had tracked him to the Glowing Sea … that’s just crazy. Even a mad man would think twice about going in there.”

 

I smirked as it all started to come together as the pain in my skull lessened. “That’s why he’s there, to make the Institute think twice about following him.”

 

“Ah, he must be using the radiation in the Glowing Sea like a shield … or a cloak … a way to throw them off and be at an advantage. If Virgil has found a way to survive out there, you’ll have to do the same, if you’re going to follow him.”

 

The prospect of going out into a highly radioactive wasteland might have intimidated most, but if anything it made me more determined to get out there. “I’ll find a way to get through the rads. Don’t worry.”

 

The doctor nodded. “Good luck, and … be safe.” She went to go back to her work before turning back to me to add, “By the way, I unplugged Nick first and removed the implant while you were waking up. He’s waiting for you upstairs.”

 

_Nick_. I hoped he was all right. If Amari sent him on his way, it seemed like he must be, and I certainly hoped so because I felt that I would need him by my side for this. Not only because he was brilliant and innovative and could think outside the box no matter what situation we ran into, but because … if I was being honest, I really didn’t want to face the Glowing Sea alone. And, considering the risks, I didn’t feel it was right to ask any other person susceptible to rads to accompany me. Nick was immune, as he was mostly machine, and would therefore make the perfect companion for me. I only hoped he wouldn’t mind joining me. Of course, first off, I would need to go back to Sanctuary, hope that the rad scrubber on that suit of power armor was working, as that was the most efficient way I could think of to journey into the dangerously radioactive plain. If that didn’t work, then … well, I’d think of something. I had a feeling a top-level scientist wouldn’t go running into hostile territory without a plan for survival. And if he could come up with something, then so could I.


	9. Old friends and new

My headache was completely gone as I reached the top of the stairs, and sure enough I saw Nick sitting on a couch near the entrance, waiting. As I neared him, suddenly he sneered and an eerily familiar, gravelly voice rasped from him. “Hope you got what you were looking for inside my head. Heh. I was right. Should’ve killed you when you were on ice.”

 

I could feel my face blanche as my hand immediately went for the gun at my side, but I didn’t draw it just yet as I asked, “Nick? Are you still in there?”

 

Suddenly, the synth detective blinked several times and asked, “What? What are you talking about?”

 

I relaxed as I heard his familiar, comforting drawl. I hoped this wasn’t a permanent side effect from the procedure. I shook my head as I replied, “You sounded like Kellogg just then.”

 

“Did I? Amari said there might be some _mnemonic impressions_ left over … Anyway, I feel fine, so let’s get going. Or, I could head back to Diamond City, if you don’t want me tagging along.”

 

I shook my head firmly. “No, I think I’d rather like to have you with me, if you don’t mind. First, though, I don’t know about you, but I need some rest.”

 

Valentine nodded and stood. “If you feel like bunking here, the Hotel Rexford is decent enough, and just down the street.”

 

“Sounds fantastic,” I replied, hefting my pack on my shoulder and following the detective as he lead the way. The woman behind the counter was nice enough, took my caps without argument and pointed the way to the room she gave me, all the way on the top floor. I followed her directions up several flights of stairs, Nick right behind me. He didn’t really sleep, not like humans did, but he did have a rest cycle he went through. He only required a sitting space, however, not a bed, so I’d offered to let him bunk with me so he didn’t have to pay for a separate room, and he accepted only when I assured him I didn’t mind having him with me. There was just something about him that was nice to have around, something that reminded me of life before the war. It was strangely comforting in a way, and I’d take whatever I could get in this wasteland.

 

As I walked down the hall, my room at the very end, one of the doors opened and a ghoul in an awfully familiar looking hat and coat stepped out, stopping short when he saw me and blinking several times like he was seeing a ghost. “What? No, it can’t … it … it’s YOU! From Sanctuary Hills, right?”

 

There was something about him that seemed familiar but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. For now, I was cautiously polite. “Yeah, I’m from Sanctuary.”

 

He seemed to sense I didn’t recognize him on sight. “What, you don’t remember me? I sold you that space in the Vault, right before the bombs fell! But then I wasn’t allowed in.” It was then that the spark of familiarity finally caught and went up in a blaze as I realized who he was, even though I didn’t know his actual name. “But you, look at you! Two hundred years and you’re still perfect! How is that possible?”

 

I wondered if he knew, if he even could have known what was going to happen to us once we went in the Vault. “The Vault had these cryo pods that froze us in place. I only thawed out recently.”

 

His eyebrows - or, rather, the region where his eyebrows would have been had he still had them - raised as his eyes widened in surprise. “What? Vault-Tec never told me about that! Unbelievable!” He chuckled as he added, “Well, I had to get to the future the hard way, living through the … filth. The decay. The bloodshed.”

 

From his demeanour, I could tell that he was telling the truth. And if I found it hard to believe this world when I woke up from cryo sleep, how much more difficult was it to grapple with the truth having lived through it all? Being from our time … it was insane looking at how the world was now. But to see it take form into what it was? I couldn’t even imagine how difficult that was. “I’m so sorry,” I said, the only thing I could think of to say. “I didn’t know this would happen. I … I wish there was something I could have done.”

 

“You know, you’re the only other person I met from … from before I … uh …” He sighed heavily as he continued, “Oh god, I’ve been so alone here! No Commonwealth settlement wants a ghoul with 200 years of Vault-Tec sales experience!”

 

I felt sorry for him. As difficult as it was for me to adjust to this world, I couldn’t imagine what he’d had to _live_ through while I’d just been sleeping. That plus transforming into a ghoul … even though he retained his mind, unlike the ferals, it had to be a hard life he now led. Even though I had just woke up, I could tell that prejudice still permeated through some layers of what was left of society. Here was someone who was obviously willing to work, but no one was giving him the time of day.

 

But no longer, if I had any say about it.

 

“Hey, you know there’s a settlement up in Sanctuary now. I’m heading back there tomorrow morning. If you want, you can come with me. I’ll make sure you get a spot there.”

 

“You … you sure they would let me?”

 

I smiled. “I’m the General of the Minutemen, if anyone has anything to say about it, they’ll have to take it up with me. And nobody will talk me out of settling you there, if that’s what you want. You have my word, as General.”

 

“Really? You will? Oh, that would be wonderful. Finally, a real place to make a home. Just knock on my door before you leave and I’ll come with you!”

 

He wasn’t lying, either. The next morning, I knocked on his door bright and early and he was already standing there with his bag packed, ready to go. “I gotta get some supplies on my way out of town, but you’re welcome to join me.”

 

He donned his hat as he closed the door to his room. “I have some ins with some of the vendors here in Goodneighbor, I can cut you some deals. Anything to help,” he added with a smile.

 

Was he ever a godsend. I wasn’t some expert negotiator, I rarely haggled or argued prices, I just paid what they asked and left it alone. But the Vault-tec salesman - whom I now knew was named Walter Tesch - was amazing. He had a hand in all of my transactions that morning and by the time we stepped out of Goodneighbor, I swore he could have sold a farmer his own crops. I filed that information away in the back of my mind, already wanting him in charge of the supplies for Sanctuary and the Minutemen in general. He wanted a job, well … I was about to give him one.

 

I would definitely have to keep company with Nick, at least for a while, because he knew the Commonwealth like the back of his hand. Not just the landscape - and that was important to know, considering how some things had changed in the past 200 years - but also where raiders and Super Mutants usually posted up and where feral ghouls tended to gather. He showed me certain secure routes on my Pip-Boy and I made sure to mark them for future reference. I wouldn’t be able to keep him by my side forever, but I was going to take advantage of anything I could while I could. I’d missed a helluva lot and as a result had a lot of catching up to do. Thankfully, Nick was happy to help. All in all, considering the circumstances, I was pretty goddamn lucky. I didn’t have my family, but I had been fortunate enough to stumble into a couple of good people, genuinely good people that weren’t just out for themselves and were willing to help a wayward pre-war relic, from Preston Garvey all the way to Nick Valentine.

 

Speaking of, Preston was extremely happy to see me and my little entourage as we crossed over the rickety bridge to get into Sanctuary. He was making his rounds with his laser musket, keeping watch. I had brought some equipment with me and I hoped it would be enough to set up a few defensive measures so everyone could sleep easier. No sense in having a settlement if everyone was in constant fear of it being discovered and pillaged by raiders. “Afternoon, General, good to see you back.”

 

I smiled back in greeting. “Good to be back. I have a new settler for us, too,” I said with a slight jerk of my head, indicating Walt behind me. “His name’s Walter Tesch, and he just helped me get a lot more in supplies for my caps. Nobody makes trouble for him, understand?”

 

I didn’t know where Garvey stood on non-feral ghouls, but he shrugged and nodded and made no pause or indication that he was uncomfortable. “Understood, General. Anyone you vouch for is good in my book.” He reached out an arm to Walter as he said, “Welcome to Sanctuary.”

 

“Thank you,” Walt replied, shaking his hand. “It’s strange to be back here after all this time, but … fitting, I think.”

 

Preston smiled as he returned the handshake before he turned to me. “I’m glad you’re here, General, I have someone I think you might want to meet.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“Yeah. This way,” he said as he turned heel and started to lead me through Sanctuary. I was curious as hell as I followed behind him, wondering who they might have picked up. Had somebody showed up here? Was it random circumstance or had they known where a settlement was? The latter option was potentially troubling, as I didn’t want word of this location readily known throughout the Commonwealth … at least, not yet, not until I could get some really good defences up to deter any illicit characters. I didn’t want us to be an island forever, but for now … for now it was necessary.

 

I wasn’t exactly sure who or what to expect when we rounded the corner to the large carport that sat beside the house across from mine, but it certainly wasn’t the mop of short red hair and flash of a red jumpsuit that I saw. She turned as we came into view, and her brown eyes went wide in shock. “Riisa?”

 

“Irene?” My mind was working overtime, trying to figure out just how Irene had survived completely unharmed and un-aged for 200 years. I stepped forward and pulled my contractor buddy into a tight hug, still in shock that she was here but grateful as hell. I didn’t even care that tears dripped from my cheeks onto her jumpsuit, and I heard a sniffle from her, too. The last time I’d seen her, it was the day before the bombs fell. I’d waved to her from my carport and she’d waved back as she’d headed up to the Vault that she’d been contracted for after she got out of the army, just a year after I had. I racked my brain, trying to think if I’d even saw her before Nate and Shaun and I had been sealed in those cryo pods, but I honestly couldn’t recall. I’d been so deep in shock I’d been pretty numb to most things that day. Of course, I realized, her appearance brought a whole slew of unanswered questions, and I dried my tears as we parted and I asked. “How? How are you here right now?”

 

“A freakin’ miracle is how. The pod I was in malfunctioned and I woke up. If it wasn’t for that … well, I probably would have suffocated, like the rest in my section. Oxygen was so low as it was it took me a while to recover. If it wasn’t for Sturges, here, I’d probably still be down there.”

 

Sturges rubbed his neck sheepishly as he said, “I hope you don’t mind, I … I just wanted to see if there was anything in there we could use, even just some spare parts. Didn’t expect to find anybody.”

 

I shook my head. “It’s fine, you take anything you need from there. But, Irene …” I turned back to my friend, or at least who I hoped was my friend, “… did you know what they were doing? With the cryo pods? Do you know how long we were under?”

 

Irene nodded. “Yeah, I knew about the pods. They said they were for putting us under for the first few months to a year after the bombs dropped just to make sure we could all pull through, resource-wise.”

 

I raised my eyebrows. “Irene … it’s been over _200 years_.”

 

“What?” She stepped back, seemingly dazed. “No, no that’s not possible. They weren’t supposed to last that long. Why didn’t they wake us up? Why …” She stumbled backwards and sat down hard, the expression on her face clearly horrified, trying to work out just what had gone wrong.

 

“Didn’t you see all the other pods? The state of disrepair?”

 

“I was housed in the maintenance section, we were separate from the rest. And Sturges just got me out of there quick, I wasn’t exactly on a tour …” Her eyes went wide again as she met my gaze. “What about Nate? And Shaun? Did they …”

 

I lowered my gaze, my jaw set. “Nate’s gone. And Shaun … somebody kidnapped him.”

 

She clasped a hand over her mouth, unable to stem the flow of tears over the loss. Nate was - had been - her cousin, and they’d been close growing up since their mothers were close sisters. They’d even gotten jobs with the same contractor and we’d all ended up working together. Hell, I’d met Irene before I’d even met Nate, and while she’d never specifically said, I’d always had a hankering suspicion that she’d had a hand in getting us together. As I kneeled and pulled her into my arms, I knew … I knew she’d had no part of Vault-Tec’s shenanigans. She was too sweet, too loving to ever knowingly be a part of any kind of shady shit like that. And if I knew her like I did, I knew she was beating herself up over what had happened. “It’s gonna be okay,” I whispered. “I’m gonna find Shaun, and I’m gonna get him back. I even have a lead. And, if you want, I could use some help with it.”

 

“Anything,” she answered immediately, the tears still swirling in her eyes as she dried what had already fallen.

 

“That power armour over there … I need to make sure the rad scrubbers are intact. I need to go into an area with some heavy radiation, and I’ll need all the protection I can get.”

 

She nodded and stood. “Just let me borrow some tools and I’ll get right on it.”

 

The rest of the afternoon was spent with both of us working, her on the power armour and me on some rudimentary defences. At the end of the day, I had enough parts and supplies to make a few turrets, so I placed one at the entrance, one at the beginning of the path to the Vault, and one at the other end of the former development. We’d need some more in the future, but this would help. I also heard Walt talking with Preston about supplies and where to go and who to trust. He had two specific suggestions that Garvey agreed to check out, and I smiled slightly to see them cooperating so well. Nick was running interference between Irene and I, helping out either of us when we needed us, which I was especially grateful for because my knowledge was fairly simple and rudimentary when it came to things like this, and while I could have figured it out, it was easier having knowledgeable help around.

 

As night started to fall, I invited Irene into my home, since hers was pretty well devastated since the bombs fell. It was nice having someone familiar around, though my heart did ache a little to have such a close reminder of Nate. The comfort was worth far more than the hurt, however, and I did my best to help her catch up, though I was still pretty fresh out of the Vault myself, all things considered. Nick ended up being the real resource, filling us both in and answering our questions, or at least what he could. Despite his mechanical appearance, there was such an easy-going vibe about him that seemed to put most people at ease. That came in handy, I imagined, for some of the people in Diamond City who were ruthlessly anti-synth, anti-ghoul, anti anything not 100% intact human.

 

Before I retired to bed, Irene caught up with me in the hallway and asked, “Hey, do you need any help going after this scientist?”

 

I shook my head. “I have limited supplies of Rad X and RadAway, and I’m not exactly sure where I’m going. The Glowing Sea is too dangerous to just to gallivanting around in unless you have a suit of Power Armour … or maybe a Hazmat.”

 

She nodded. “Just promise me you’ll come back, okay? I … I can’t lose _everything_.”

 

I gave her one last hug as I promised, “Nothing can stop me.”

 

“I know,” she murmured into my shoulder, and I could feel her smile. “I tucked an extra fusion core in your pack, just in case. The one you have is at about 3/4 capacity, but no sense in taking chances.”

 

The next morning, Nick and I left bright and early, taking the quickest path to the edge of the Glowing Sea. Getting there was easy enough, but once we did … we really had no idea where we were going. It was dangerous territory to just go roaming in, mostly barren, no real places to post up or hide. We both set up a sweeping pattern that I hoped would yield some fruit, but so far nothing yet. It was impossible to truly track anything, physically, and I had to wonder just how Kellogg was planning on handling this job. I hadn’t seen a suit of Power Armour or a Hazmat suit, and the few supplies I’d pilfered from him didn’t include an exhaustive amount of Rad X. I would have thought that a honed and well-funded mercenary would have been better prepared, but maybe I overestimated his planning skills. Hell, maybe he’d just been damn lucky. Who really knew.

 

Of course, we needed a little luck ourselves, and we managed to find some with the Children of Atom. They were a group of people who worshipped radiation and were camped out in a crater in the middle of the Glowing Sea. I had no idea how they survived the harsh conditions, but it seemed that a few things survived nuclear oblivion, and religion was one of those things. Fortunately, they seemed amenable to help us find Virgil, and they pointed us toward a cave just over a ridge from where they were. _Bingo_. After thanking them for helping us, we made our way to the cave, and I hoped that they were right, that Virgil hadn’t already moved on. And that perhaps there wouldn’t be too many defences set up that we’d have to navigate.

 

The biggest obstacle in our way, of course, ended up being a huge ass fucking _deathclaw_ situated on a little mound just outside of the cave we were aiming for. We managed to duck behind the ridge before it saw us, but I swore under my breath. “Fuck. What are we gonna do?”

 

“Well, the way its lying there, I don’t think we’ll be able to sneak around … especially with that Power Armour you’re sporting.”

 

“Because of fucking course.” I peeked around the radiated rock, trying to see if there were any options for taking it out, but there were few. So I lined up a shot with Kellogg’s gun and told Nick, “Just stay behind me, okay?” I took a couple of deep breaths and pulled the trigger, getting off six shots in succession and immediately moving to reload. It didn’t take the beast out, of course, but I didn’t stay and watch what it did while I loaded up the gun and moved to aim again. Six more shots, combined with what Nick was getting off, and it was limping toward us, still moving but greatly wounded. My metal friend managed to get off a few more rounds and completely immobilize its back legs, leaving it to crawl forward with his front legs and try to swipe at us at the same time. It was a sitting target, and I took my shots carefully, not wanting to waste ammo any more than I was. Five shots later and it laid dead at our feet, and we walked around it with nary a scratch.

 

Inside the cave, there were some turrets, but they must have had specific calibrations on who to fire upon because they didn’t activate when we walked in. I figured Virgil likely had limited supplies and had calibrated them to fire only on Kellogg. Smart move, and one that ultimately worked in our favour as we were able to walk past them unharmed. As we drew further into the cave, we entered a larger cavern filled with electronic equipment and manned by a protectron unit and a very surprised looking Super Mutant. I was a little startled at first, expecting a human, but I recognized the white coat that he wore, as it was the same coat worn by the woman who recruited Kellogg. _Institute_. Somehow, that _was_ Virgil, and as a show of good faith I exited my Power Armor as I approached him.

 

My gesture did little to set him at ease, as he pointed a laser rifle at us and cautioned, “Don’t come any closer! Who are you? Are you working with Kellogg?”

 

I held my hands up. “Take it easy, Kellogg’s dead.”

 

He relaxed ever so slightly. “Dead? He’s _dead_?” His guard went back up as he seethed, “Don’t you lie to me!”

 

“I’m not lying. I killed him myself.” I hoped he believed me. After all, I really had no proof that I did, other than maybe his gun … I guess word hadn’t spread too far about his death yet, though who knew if word ever reached out here in the Glowing Sea. I just had to hope that the fact that my companion and I weren’t trying to kill him would make the appropriate impression.

 

It did seem to get through to him a little as he lowered his gun just a little bit. “Did you really …” He shook his head. “Kellogg was ruthless, there’s a reason the Institute used him to do their dirty work for so many years. I knew they’d send him after me, tried to prepare for it, but I still wasn’t sure I’d make it. And you … you killed him, eh?” He lowered his gun fully as he sized me up. “Then what do you want with me?”

 

_Well, might as well cut to the chase, more or less_ , I figured. “Why did you leave the Institute? I know you came from there.”

 

He looked surprised that I knew of his former affiliation. “You know about the escape? But how?” He sighed and shook his head. “No, it doesn’t matter. I’m not going back … I can’t go back! Look at me! Why are you even here? What do you really want?”

 

“I need whatever information you’ve got, anything to help me get into the Institute.”

 

“I’m sorry, what? You want to get _in_ to the Institute? Are you insane?” He looked at me like I was crazy, and hell, maybe I was. He shook his head again as he said, “Never mind how nearly impossible that is, even if you were to succeed, it’d almost certainly end in your immediate death. What reason could you possible have for taking that kind of risk?”

 

It was true, getting into the Institute was a huge gamble. There was absolutely no guarantee I’d be able to find Shaun or get to him, no knowledge of how the Institute was laid out, absolutely no kind of intel, save for what I could possible get from Virgil. Still, I had to do it, I had to try. Shaun was depending on me, even if he didn’t know it yet. “I’m trying to find my son. The Institute kidnapped him.”

 

Virgil winced. “Oh. Oh no. I had no idea. I’m sorry. I know the Institute has taken people from the Commonwealth in the past. If your son is one of them … I can understand why you’d want to get in. I can help, but … I’m going to need something in return.”

 

_Quid pro quo, eh? I can play ball._ “You help me and I’ll help you.”

 

He nodded. “Alright. If I help you, you’re going to have to do something for me … or, rather, fetch something for me. Before I was forced to leave, I was working on a serum to reverse this mutation.” He motioned to himself, indicated the Forced Evolutionary Virus. I had to wonder if he’d knowingly exposed himself, if it was an accident, or if it was forced on him, but ultimately it didn’t matter. His mind hadn’t devolved like other Super Mutants in the area, but maybe that would simply come in time. “This serum, it could … it could return me to normal. You understand?” His voice was slightly strained, like he was trying his hardest to convey his deep need. “So if you get in there, I need you to find it in my old office and bring it to me. I think that’s pretty reasonable, in exchange for me helping you.”

 

I agreed. “More than reasonable.” Especially considering there was no guarantee I’d be able to get to his office once I got in, no assurances I’d be able to get to the serum uninterrupted. But he seemed willing to go out on a limb here, just like I was. Really, he had no other choice, and neither did I.

 

He set his gun on the desk behind him. “Alright, then, let’s talk details. First thing’s first … do you know how synths get in and out of the Institute?”

 

I smirked, pretty sure he wasn’t expecting me to know. “Yeah, they use some sort of teleportation.”

 

“Well, well … not many know about that. Pretty closely guarded secret. You’ve certainly done your homework. It’s commonly referred to as the Molecular Relay. I don’t understand _all_ the science behind it, but it works, obviously. De-materializes you in one place, re-materializes you in another. I’m sure it sounds crazy, but it’s a reality. The Relay is the only way in and out of the Institute, you understand? The _only_ way. That means you’re going to have to use it. Now … have you ever seen an Institute Courser?”

 

I had to wonder just when I would stop hearing foreign words and terms. Probably no time soon. “No, I haven’t.”

 

“Coursers are Institute synths, designed for one purpose. They’re hunters. Operations go wrong, a synth goes missing, and a Courser is dispatched. They’re very good at what they do, and you’re going to have to kill one.”

 

Sounded simple enough, though tasks like that rarely were. Didn’t seem like I had much of a choice as I nodded and said, “Just point me in the right direction, then.”

 

He chuckled. “Well, I suppose your enthusiasm counts for something. Every Courser has special hardware that gives them a direct connection to the Relay in the Institute. It’s embedded in a chip in their heads. You need that chip. But to get to it, you’ll have to find a Courser. Now, I don’t know exactly where you can find one. They haven’t sent any after me, who knows why, and sitting here waiting doesn’t seem like a good plan. You’re going to have to hunt one down. I can tell you where to start and give you some help finding one, but you’ll have to do the dirty work yourself.”

 

I certainly wasn’t opposed to that. “Okay, let’s get to work, then.”

 

“The primary insertion point for Coursers is in the ruins of CIT, directly above the Institute, so you’ll want to head there. Now, the Relay causes some pretty heavy interference all across the EM spectrum. You’ve got a radio on the Pip-Boy, right? When you get to the ruins, tune it to the lower end of the band and listen in. You’ll be able to hear the interference. Follow the signal and it’ll lead you to a Courser. Then you just have to … not get killed.” He sighed heavily. “Not gonna lie, the odds aren’t in your favour here. But if you do make it, remember what I said about the serum. I need it, badly. And … I really do hope you find what you’re looking for.”

 

As Nick and I left that rocky cave in the Glowing Sea, there was only one objective on my mind: making it to the old CIT, and from there, finding and killing a Courser. It wasn’t as simple as it sounded, but I would do anything to be reunited with my son, and this was necessary.


	10. The Hunter becomes the Hunted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, it's been a long time since I've updated this. I really don't have much of an excuse. I had the screengrabs for the dialogue I needed and everything, I just ... was uninspired, I guess. But NaNoWriMo has been kicking me into gear, so here we go, the next entry in Riisa's story. :)

The ruins of the CIT loomed in the encroaching darkness, still and silent and such a contrast when I would visit Irene there. It was her old alma mater, where she’d graduated with honours, and where she briefly returned and worked there in the engineering department. The contrast of what I remembered as being a bright, proud building, full of life, it made the husk of what was left after the bombs despairingly pathetic. As I stood there, a chill wind picked up, seeping even through my power armour. I had debated long over whether I should return my power armour to Sanctuary and do this without it, but the thought of facing a courser in naught but my Vaultsuit made my skin crawl, and so I’d kept it with me. Better to just get this over with anyway.

 

My synth detective friend stood beside me, lighting a cigarette as I fiddled with my Pip-Boy, scanning the lower frequencies to find the interference that Virgil had told me about. It took a few minutes of scanning and intent listening, but then, I found it. That pinging noise nestled in between frequencies. I honed in on it to make the signal as strong as I could, and once I was sure that was as good as it was going to get, I readied my weapon and nodded to Nick. “This is it. Let’s get to hunting.”

 

I wandered for a bit around the CIT ruins, experimenting with the signal to see if it got stronger in certain areas or if it tapered off. Any time I went more west, it started to drop, so it seemed like east was the direction to go in. After some searching, it became apparent that, while the CIT ruins was the insertion point, the courser was not there, and so our search expanded toward the east, wherever I could catch the signal stronger. We carefully made our way through the Boston area, running into a few raiders or ghouls here and there but nothing too hard to take out. Nothing I hadn’t dealt with before, anyway. Nick and I kept a wandering path, following the growing interference like a homing beacon toward our goal as we kept our heads on a swivel to look out for any dangers that could be lurking in the ruined city around us. Aside from a few encounters, the rest of the city was eerily silent, darkness blanketing it as the night started to settle in. We paused at one point as we heard gunfire suddenly start to erupt, but, after some consultation, decided to press onward in caution. The interference was becoming more steady as we went, and I felt we were close, so close, and I just couldn’t give up just because there was a risk of violence. That was almost all I’d known since I’d walked out of the Vault anyway, was my entire life for one period in time. It was nothing new, nothing I was afraid of. And with my son on the line, that fed into my ultimate motivation. Nothing could sway me, not even a nesting of deathclaws.

 

The closer we seemed to get to the source of the interference, however, the closer we got to the intermittent gunfire, until we were standing just outside of the old Greentech Genetics building. My Pip-Boy was going crazy and I knew the courser had to be inside. Silencing the radio, I rechecked my ammo and then cautiously opened the door, unsure what I would find inside.

 

The place was wrecked, desks and chairs upended, strewn papers everywhere, the main staircases fallen apart and unusable while a door leading to the rest of the building was blocked with rubble. There had to be a way, however, since I could hear gunfire and footsteps and shouting, and sure enough, in the corner there was a staircase hidden away that looked sturdy enough to take. I couldn’t really be as stealthy as I would want to be with the power armour, but the protection it offered was more than worth it, especially considering who I was going to end up going toe to toe with by the end of this little enterprise. Still, Nick hung back a little bit, since even as a synth prototype he wasn’t afforded a similar level of protection, and he sniped off targets from behind me as I pressed forward. It seemed that there was a group of mercenaries in the building called Gunners - at least, that was what Nick told me as he happened upon a few of them - and they were either also pursuing the courser or the courser was pursuing them for some reason. I didn’t care either way, they stood between me and my goal, and so I took out whoever was in the path as I went. They had hastily set up some defences, a few turrets here, some grenade nests and tripwires there, but I was already used to doing a visual sweep of an area before I entered it and engaged. The Gunners may have been the most elite mercenaries in the Commonwealth, but their training paled in comparison to my pre-war Army instruction. Probably half of these flunkies couldn’t have made it through boot camp before being sent to separations. I utilized every aspect of my training as I tore through Greentech, taking out Gunners left and right as I ascended the levels. I hadn’t happened upon the courser yet, but I heard other Gunners shouting about it, giving updates on where it was, and it seemed I wasn’t too far behind it. _Good_.

 

The Gunners seemed to realise too little too late that the person behind them was not just a random raider or scavenger, but an honest to god _soldier_ , the likes of which they’d never tangled with before. A small group of them set up a last stand near an elevator, but they were no match for me even without power armour. With a fresh set? Heh, I didn’t even break a sweat. Stepping around their bodies and the bits of exploded machinery from the turrets that I’d shot out, I made my way to the final elevator that I would need to get to the courser. At least, I hoped. The way this building was falling apart, this winding path was confusing in some ways, and I just had to stop and take a moment sometimes to make sure I was following a logical progression. Shit tended to change a lot in 200 years, doubly so with a nuclear payload being dropped in the area.

 

Nick and I both took a chance to reload our weapons as the elevator took us where we needed to go, exchanging nervous glances as the locked and loaded and made ready as soon as the doors opened. I wasn’t expecting to see the courser immediately as the door opened, but one never really knew, and I wasn’t about to be caught off guard. The room ahead of us was empty, but we still made our way forward cautiously. Or, as cautiously as we could with the heavy clunking of my armour. I had halfway considered stepping out of it so I could take a more stealthy approach, but stealth wasn’t a guarantee with a courser. I knew nothing about them, except that they were elite and very dangerous, and who knew, maybe it would have been impossible to sneak up on them. I wasn’t about to take that risk when the other option was the provided protection of the power armour. It was well worth giving up stealth to have that kind of confidence going into a situation fraught with unknowns such as this one. Of course, it really wasn’t that different from the majority of situations I’d been put in since I’d woken up. Sure, the danger level was higher, but was it really more significant than a deathclaw? Or a mercenary surrounded by a synth guard? If anything, this was my new normal, as weird and somewhat pathetic as it was.

 

I heard, from a distance, a sharp, flat voice that sounded like it was interrogating a small group of Gunners that it seemed to have captured. _Has to be the courser, what else would it be?_ I lead us around and up a set of stairs that seemed like it would take us to where they were, and my heart pounded in my chest as we drew nearer. I jumped a little as I heard the sharp snap of a laser gun and then silence as we reached the final landing. This was it, just one more small set of stairs and finally I would meet my first courser, the key to getting my son back. My hand tightened around my gun, the end goal strengthening my resolve further. _I’m so close, Shaun, just hang on._

 

My gun was trained on the courser from the moment I stepped foot in the room, Nick too. Both of us were on guard and high alert, though I was a bit surprised that the courser wasn’t quite what I was expecting. The way it had been built up, I had been expecting a huge, hulking adversary, but he just looked like an ordinary human. The unique black coat was the only thing that really differentiated him from any other wastelander, and it made my stomach flip to think they could really blend in as easily as this. If they could pass unnoticed, what destruction could a courser bring? What carnage and confusion? Truly, part of an effective agent was the ability to blend in, I should have known. But it was still startling to see that this scary representative of the shadowy Institute could pass by me on any given day in the Diamond City marketplace and I wouldn’t give him a second glance.

 

Despite having two weapons trained on him, the courser remained calm. He even seemed surprised, immediately surmising that we were not with the Gunners as he asked, “Are you here for the synth?”

 

“Synth? What synth?” I asked, confused. The courser in front of me and the detective behind me were the only synths in the room that I knew of.

 

The courser brushed it off. “Well if you’re not here for the synth, then you’re here for me. What do you want?”

 

My fingers tightened around my gun. “I need that chip in your head.”

 

His eyes narrowed and I noticed his grip similarly tighten around his laser pistol. “That you cannot have.” However, instead of immediately opening fire on me, he quickly pulled out a small box and twisted a dial, and before I knew it he’d disappeared before my very eyes.

 

_What the …_

 

“Stealth boy!” Nick shouted, ducking behind the door as he grabbed my pack. “Hold him off, give me a few minutes, will ya?”

 

That was easier said than done, but much easier than it would have been had I not been wearing power armour. I could take some damage, and there was no escaping it because I had no real way of knowing where the courser was. Bright flashes from his gun were the only indicators of his position, but he moved too quickly to get a real lock on him and fire back, and I wasn’t about to waste any bullets. Instead, I moved to the centre of the room, watching the pattern of his gunfire, seeing if there was any indication I could use to track it. I let off a shot or two, though I couldn’t be sure if I hit him or not. _Nick, I hope you know what you’re doing._

 

I really should have known by now to trust in my friend, as the moment after that thought had run through my head, he ducked back into the room, two molotov cocktails in hand. He watched the courser’s fire for just a moment before he lobbed the explosives, one right after another, into the general direction of where the fire was coming from. The first one hit the floor and shattered, flames spreading around the point of impact … and engulfing where the courser was standing, giving his profile away as he uselessly batted at the flames. The second molotov hit him directly, as Nick had a clearer target, and I took that opportunity to shoot off a few rounds directly at centre mass. The courser was no match for that barrage, between the flames and the bullets he fell to the floor as the last of the fire burned out, his body reappearing, freshly charred. I wrinkled my nose as the stench of burned flesh filled the air, a wholly unpleasant scent to experience, though I had little doubt that in the coming days, it would be overtaken by the stench of the rest of the bodies left littered in this building.

 

It was then that I noticed, in a small room just off to the side, there was a woman trapped behind a security door. The first thing the courser said to me came back, and I wondered … _Is she the synth he was talking about?_ I approached the window, taking off my power armour helmet as I did so, if only to show her that I wasn’t about to gun her down, too.

 

She seemed to understand that I meant her no harm as she stepped up to the window that separated us. Her face was set, strong and determined, and she bravely said, “Thank you. He … he deserved to die. Look, I know you’re not here for me, but I can’t get out of here, not on my own. Can you … would you … help me?”

 

I nodded as I spied a terminal just next to the door. Nate was the one experienced with computers, but he’d passed on a good bit of knowledge to me, and so I felt pretty confident I could crack it as I exited my power armour and sat down, cracking my fingers before setting them on the keyboard. The screen popped up, spitting numbers and letters, nonsensical words and phrases at seemingly illogical intervals. But it was there, a pattern, somewhere to be found, and I wasn’t about to just leave this woman to die here all alone. It took some maneuvering, some thinking, but finally I came up with the correct combination and the terminal unlocked, the main menu at my disposal. From there, it was easy to open up the door, and I stepped back as it slid open and the woman approached me.

 

She smiled, almost shyly as she said, “Thank you. I … I don’t know what more to say.”

 

I nodded in acknowledgement before I asked, “Who are you?”

 

“My … Institute designation is K1-98. But I prefer Jenny. So yes, I’m a synth, if you hadn’t already guessed. I knew they’d send a courser after me … I just didn’t think he’d find me so fast. I think I could have lost him, but then I was kidnapped by these … mercenaries. And then all this happened.” She paused, looking around at the carnage left by the courser and myself. Blood was spattered against the wall as it looked like the courser had not been gentle during his interrogation of some of the Gunners. But if they were out here kidnapping people and exploiting them for ransom, I couldn’t say I felt too sorry for them. Sure, they were just trying to make a living, but there were other ways to do that without harming others. They chose this life, consequences be damned, and so they died as they lived: violent and bloody. A fitting end, perhaps. Jenny shook her head as she reiterated, “Thanks again for you help. I’m going to look around here for some supplies before heading out. And before you ask … no, I don’t need any more help. The Commonwealth is unforgiving. I need to make it on my own or I’m dead. Maybe we’ll meet again, under better circumstances. I … hope we do.”

 

I felt … nervous, somehow, at the thought of just leaving Jenny here. But she was a grown woman who could make her own decisions and I had to respect that. I couldn’t leave her without a parting offer, however. “Hey, Jenny. I know you wanna make it on your own, but keep in mind, there are those out there who help each other. You probably don’t know who I am, but I’m the General of the Minutemen, and if you ever decide to want to settle down somewhere here, there’s a settlement up to the northwest called Sanctuary, past Concord. Just tell them you know the General and ask for Preston Garvey. We can’t all be loners out here.”

 

She brushed her hair out of her face and nodded, smiling softly. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she promised before we parted, Jenny wandering down the stairs in search of any useful supplies, and I turned to Nick.

 

“Well, we’ve come this far. Ready to start digging around in a guy’s head?”

 

He chuckled. “I’m used to picking people’s brains for information, but I gotta admit, this is a new one for me.”

 

Indeed, it was new territory for me as well, but I couldn’t let that stop me. Rolling up my sleeves, I pulled knives and a bone saw out of my bag, gulping as I turned the body over onto its stomach. I couldn’t say for sure that this was the best position to have him in, but I didn’t think I could standing looking at his face while I dug around in his skull. I was still a human being, after all, I wasn’t some cold-hearted killer that regularly butchered up people, whether they deserved it or not. My hands shook as I picked up a knife, swallowing hard as I fought back a wave of nausea. _Can I do this? Can I really do this?_ I shuddered as I worked to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth. Closing my eyes briefly, I pictured my motivation, the only thing that was truly keeping me going. My son. Shaun. I could see him so clearly in my head, every little memory, every moment I’d spent with him for six months. I could still remember the first time I laid eyes on him after the long, hard labour I’d spent trying to birth him before ultimately succumbing to needing an emergency c-section. After he’d been cleaned up and wrapped up and given to me, it was like time had stood still. He was still a little fussy, but I shushed him and talked to him, hoping he would recognize my voice. By the time they had been wheeling me into the recovery room, he was calm and awake and alert, and we locked eyes as we were pushed down the hallway. That surreal moment was forever etched in time for me as we both stared at each other, seeing the other for the first time even though we’d spent the last nine months being an integral part of one another. No matter what happened, no matter how much time passed, I would always remember that moment like it had just happened.

 

Opening my eyes, my will was set, and I reached down and sliced through the courser’s scalp, ignoring the way it gave me goosebumps and made me shudder. I couldn’t get grossed out, not now, not when this body held the key to reuniting with my son. That was truly the only thing that mattered, my comfort be damned, and I worked hard to loosen the skin around the skull so I could get a good view of it. I wasn’t concerned about this looking neat or professional, I just needed to do it, and so when I’d peeled back the skin, I grabbed the bone saw and got to work, etching a large patch to cut through before I set to work. I clenched my teeth at the sound of the bone saw doing its job, my body fighting with me to stop before I lost it. But I pressed onward, cutting through the skull until I hard a large opening to work with. Setting the saw aside, I used the edge of the knife to pop it out, and I tossed the fragment as I took another deep breath. This part … this part was really going to be unpleasant, but it was equally necessary to this journey, this reunification. I would do anything to see my boy again, up to and including digging through brains to try to find one specific little chip, one seemingly small piece and insignificant piece of metal and wiring that held my entire future. It took a good bit of time to locate it as I was immediately grossed out upon my fingers touching the membrane, but I fought through the dry heaves as I searched, occasionally having to turn my head to cough and gag before going right back to it. Never doubt a mother’s love. I didn’t think there was any other reason or way I would have been doing this kind of thing except for the fact that the information on that chip would lead me to my son. If this hadn’t been the only way, I wouldn’t have touched a mission like this with a ten foot pole. I mused just how much my life had changed, how far I’d gone from a stay at home mom in the suburbs to dissecting a corpse in a blown out building in an apocalyptic wasteland. There are some things you just can’t prepare for, can never see yourself doing, and this … this was probably around the top of that list.

 

Finally, my fingers brushed against something hard, something that definitely wasn’t bone, and I couldn’t help the half chuckle of relief that escaped. Carefully enclosing my fingers around it, I isolated the metal and the wiring and gently pulled, making sure that nothing would get left behind. It slid out of the brain with a stomach churning plop, the slick sound of blood and fluids and brain matter separating and then falling back together sickening me. But it was done, I had it, and I let out a whoop of celebration. Of course, I still had to have the damn thing analyzed, but considering everything else I’d gone through up until this point, it was smooth sailing from here. Shit, really, the hard part was over. I was in the home stretch now.

 

The first and really only person I could think of off the top of my head that would be able to help us was Doctor Amari, and so it was back to Goodneighbor, this time with another blood-encrusted chip in hand needing to be analyzed. I chuckled as we exited Greentech, wondering what the doctor would say this time, wondering if this was bound to become a habit of some kind. I certainly hoped not.

 

Doctor Amari would have to wait, however, as by the time we made it into the settlement, it was well into the early morning hours, and with everything that had happened in the past few days, I needed some serious rest. I had been running near on empty when I had been standing outside the CIT ruins, wondering if I was really up for this whole shebang before I figured, _Fuck it_. No time like the present. It felt like a clock was just ticking away, eating at the time I’d spend away from Shaun. Walking into Goodneighbor, however, I felt like I was about to drop dead of exhaustion, and I knew I needed some sleep. Nick wasn’t opposed to a rest cycle, either, and so we bought a room at The Rexford and settled in. I didn’t even bother to shed my Vaultsuit, only kicking off my boots before I climbed up on the bed. I barely got my eyes closed good before I was gone, off in the haze of a long-needed sleep. Whatever shenanigans the other patrons got up to, it didn’t even matter as I might as well have been dead as I laid there, lost in a dreamless rest that my body had been begging me for. When I finally awoke, hours later, I was confused and disoriented for a moment, completely forgetting where I was and what was going on. As I sat up and saw the suit of power armour next to me, everything came flooding back in an instant and I jumped out of bed, pulling on my boots and taking the fusion core out of the armour before I left the room. I still had the room for a few hours yet, and I would rather not just take it tramping through Goodneighbor if I didn’t need to, wasting up precious battery life that I might need later.

 

Nick was waiting for me in the lobby, leaning back against a couch. I hoped I hadn’t kept him waiting long as I tossed a smile at him as I descended the stairs. He returned it and tipped his hat to me, indicating no harm no foul. He understood the rest I’d desperately needed, and he obviously didn’t begrudge me of getting some good rest while I could. I didn’t get many chances for that, so I had to snatch them when I could and savour it.

 

The Neighbourhood Watch roamed the street as we exited the old hotel, making a beeline for The Memory Den and the doctor inside. As we walked in, I was a bit surprised to see Amari at the far end of the lobby, not away in the bowels of the building, but hey, I wasn’t going to protest saving a few steps. She was leaning over at a console, completely oblivious to the rest of the world as she typed away. It wasn’t until we actually drew within a few feet of her that she happened to glance up and see us, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise before she exclaimed, “You’re back! The Glowing Sea … Virgil … what happened?”

 

“I found Virgil,” I confirmed. “And he has a way inside the Institute, but … I need a code from this courser chip.” I patted the side of my pack, indicating the prize was just inside.

 

Amari looked shocked. “A courser chip? You fought a _courser_? Oh my god.” She shook her head as the surprise dissipated. “Unfortunately, I can’t help you. I’ve worked on a lot of synths, but never a courser. I wouldn’t know what that chip does, let alone how to decode it.”

 

I felt deflated as I stood there, almost paralyzed as the bad news washed over me. _No, no, no, I’m so close! I did all that work, it can’t be for nothing!_

 

The doctor wasn’t about to leave me hanging, however, as she offered, “But, there are people who might. I work with a group that, well, they’re the only ones I know that even have a chance at cracking Institute security. They’re called the Railroad.”

 

Well, it was an interesting name, if nothing else. “The Railroad?”

 

“They help synths escape the Institute. I don’t know who they all are. Usually an agent of theirs just shows up with someone who needs new memories.”

 

That was great, no idea where they might be located or how to contact them. I couldn’t just wait around for one of their agents to show, I was working on a lot tighter timetable than that could guarantee. At least I had a name, but without anything else to go on, I still might be sunk. _Maybe this isn’t the easy leg of the mission after all …_ “So how do I find them?”

 

“One of the agents gave me a code phrase, said it would help locate them if there was ever an emergency. ‘Follow the Freedom Trail.’”

 

_The Freedom Trail_. Now that kickstarted something in my brain, a long dormant memory that I hadn’t thought of in years. Instantly I was transported back in time, back to elementary school. Or was it middle school? The years were hard to account for, but I could still remember how the crisp autumn air felt as my school class went on that field trip, walking along the famed Freedom Trail in Boston. The leaves had just been falling, leaving a crunching sound in their wake as I followed my teacher. Mr. Kent had simply droned on and on, making even interesting subjects boring, but out in the fresh air, nothing was boring as I simply looked around, surveying the different buildings and people as our tour group made our way along the famous pathway. Despite my teacher’s best attempts, I’d found the tour endlessly fascinating, and perhaps that was why this stuck out so much to me when I heard the phrase.

 

Smiling at Doctor Amari, I thanked her for her help before Nick and I departed, heading up to my room in The Rexford to rest for just a little bit before we set out. I wasn’t sure what I would find on that historic trail, but I knew that if I just walked it, I could figure it out. I had to. Shaun was counting on me, and though this was going to take a little bit longer than I’d been bargaining on, I was going to see it through to the end. It was just a couple more additional steps, a few more than I’d thought I’d have. But no matter. What was done was done. When I loaded back up into my power armour and my detective friend and I set out from Goodneighbor, it was with a determined set to our stances. Both of us were a dog with a bone, neither of us willing to let go now that we were in the thick of it, and I was supremely grateful to count such a person as a friend. He was quite the contrast to the courser, unable to blend in and standing out in every way, and yet somehow, he was far more human. As the sun shone overhead in the bright early afternoon, Nick checked that his pistol was fully loaded before he said, “Now come on, let’s find this Railroad so we can get to your son.”

 

He didn’t have to tell me twice.


End file.
